How Lenora Trains Her Dragon
by Brightfire15
Summary: Female Hiccup Story. Lenora is Stoick's daughter. She longs to make her father proud by being a dragon slayer, but her plans change when she meets a Night Fury she calls Toothless. Now, she'll have to make a choice that'll decide everyone's futures. R&R!
1. This is Berk

How Lenora Trains Her Dragon

Disclaimer: I don't own _How to Train Your Dragon_

Long ago, there was a village called Berk. It was twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It was located solidly on meridian of misery. The village was, in a word, sturdy. It had been there for seven generations, but every single house on that heaven-forsaken rock was new. The villagers enjoyed fishing, hunting and charming view of the sunsets. Berk's only problem was the pests. While other villages had mice or mosquitos, Berk had dragons.

Dragons had been Berk's problem for over three hundred years. There was rarely a night when the dragons didn't raid Berk for its livestock and food. Most people would leave a place that was a dragon's raiding target, but not the people of Berk. They were Vikings, and all Vikings have stubbornness issues—all of them.

Probably one of the most stubborn Vikings was seventeen-year-old Lenora Horrendous Haddock the Third, the only daughter of Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Tribe. Lenora's name was an odd one, considering her people, but it wasn't the worse. Parents often believed a hideous name would frighten off gnomes or trolls, or an odd name would define their child's character when they grew up. Lenora's name in English meant "light" as her mother had hoped she'd be the light of the village. However, in Latin, it meant "foreign, the other," which couldn't have described her more accurately as Lenora was unlike anyone in Berk, both in looks, skills and personality.

It had been a quiet night when Lenora was suddenly awoken by a dragon's roar. They were being raided by dragons again. Quickly, she dressed and ran out into the village, heading straight for the blacksmith's stall. She ignored the protests of the other villagers, who screamed at her to get back inside, while she narrowly dodged the dragons' fire. She was nearly there, when Stoick grabbed her by the back of her shirt and hoisted her up.

"Lenora!" he yelled. "What're you doing out here? Who let you out of the house?"

"Dad, I know you don't like me leaving the house during raids, but Gobber's going to need my help!" she said, rolling her eyes. "Would you put me down, please?"

Stoick sighed. "Fine, but you go straight to Gobber's and you stay there, got it?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Good. Now go," he barked, as he put her down.

Lenora sighed as she continued onwards to Gobber's. Having Stoick for a father was both an honor and difficult as while Lenora was very proud of him, being his daughter meant she had a lot to live up to. Stoick was overprotective of Lenora and he wasn't called the Vast for nothing. He was huge, strong both in muscle and heart, and the finest warrior in all of Berk. It was said when Stoick was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off its shoulders. Lenora believed this. It was difficult not to when she'd seen him in action.

Lenora finally made to Gobber's after a few more moments.

"Nice of you to join the party, lass!" said Gobber. "I thought you'd been carried off."

Lenora smiled as she put on her apron and gloves before setting to work. "Who, me? No, come on. I'm way too bony for their taste," she joked.

"Well, they do need toothpicks, don't they?" joked Gobber, making them both laugh.

Lenora was unlike the other girls in her village. While other girls had hair of red, black or gold which was either up in a bun or pigtails, Lenora's hair was a dull brown and she kept in a single braid down her back, just past her ribs. She was pretty, but it was a far cry from some other village girls' beauty. She was also as skinny as a twig; she lacked the physical strength other Vikings did and was the village klutz.

Lenora wasn't allowed to participate in helping with the dragon raids. Instead, she was apprenticed to Gobber, the village blacksmith, who was also her father's best friend and her godfather, and had been ever since she was a young child. He'd lost his left hand and right foot to dragons. He trained the trainees, was a source of advice to any who needed it and a great storyteller to anyone who had time to listen. He was the only one in the entire village that Lenora was close to, as she was something of the village reject, she didn't have any close friends her own age, and she lacked the close relationship she longed to have with Stoick due to his inability to cope with Lenora's differences and talk things out and listen. To everyone except Gobber, she was known as Lenora the Useless. And while she loved having Gobber as her godfather and their relationship, she longed for just a little more in life.

Lenora winced as the sounds of the dragon raid hit her. She hated the dragon raids. Houses were constantly burned down, sometimes there were lives lost and she always feared for the life of her father when he was out there protecting the village. Working in the forge helped quell her fears a little. She may not have been allowed to help fight in the raids, but she was quite good when it came to blacksmithing. She made countless weapons and shields for her people. She finished a hammer for him just as Hoark, one of the warriors came back for his sword.

"I need my blade yesterday!" he shouted.

"It's right here, Hoark," said Lenora, handing him the blade she'd just finished sharpening. She held out the hammer. "Hoark, is my father okay and could you get this to him?" Normally, a Viking's best weapon against a dragon was a shield, but Stoick never seemed to need a shield and his favorite weapon was the hammer.

"He's fighting a Monstrous Nightmare, but I'm sure he can handle himself," said Hoark. "But I'll give him the hammer, Lenora."

Lenora gave him a grateful smile before she turned her gaze to the other Vikings her age, who were allowed to help in ways she couldn't. There was Fishlegs, a fat boy who knew everything there was to know about dragons. There was her arrogant cousin, Snotlout, who was all words and no action. There were the twins, Tuffnut and his tomboy sister Ruffnut, who were always arguing with each other. And then there was eighteen-year-old Aster, the village's most prized young Viking.

He was every girl's dream boy—handsome, strong, and caring. He was tall, well-muscled with blond hair, blue eyes and a smile that made Lenora's heart flutter. Lenora had had a secret love for him for years. He was kinder to her than some of the others in her village, but with status quo the way it was, Lenora didn't have much hope for him ever returning her affections.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Gobber picked her up and carried her away from the window of the shop.

"Why do people keep picking me up like this today?" she muttered. "Gobber, come on, let me out please. I need to make my mark out there."

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks, but not quite the way you wanted to," said Gobber.

"Please, two minutes. I'll slay a dragon," she begged. "Dad might actually be proud of me for once. Heck, Aster might even ask me out."

"Lenora, if he doesn't like you for yourself, then you'd be better off without him," said Gobber, shaking his head. "And as for the dragon slaying, I'm sorry, but you're not that kind of girl. You can't lift a hammer, you can't throw an axe, you can't even lift a bola!"

"True enough," she admitted. She beckoned to her latest invention, which was something like a catapult and crossbow combined. When Gobber didn't need her help in the forge or she wasn't busy with something, she was usually tinkering away making things Gobber himself couldn't do. "But this will do it for me." She patted it, which accidentally set it off and caused the bola inside to go off and hit her Uncle Spitelout in the face.

Gobber sighed in exasperation as Lenora winced. "See? Now, this is what I'm talking about, right here. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, then you need to stop all this."

Lenora was confused. "But you just pointed to all of me!"

"Yes, that's it. Stop being all of you!" said Gobber.

Lenora was even more confused now. "Gobber, you're not making sense. You're the one who's always telling me I should just be myself. How am I supposed to do that, if I stop acting like myself? How do you know, that being a dragon slayer is not who I am?"

Gobber sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know, because I know you. You're not a dragon slayer, you're something else, and we both know it. Now, get back to work. We've got loads to do before the night's over."

Lenora sighed and began sharpening another sword. She didn't want to admit it, but Gobber was right. She didn't really think she could kill dragons, but what else was she supposed to do? Dragon slaying was everything in her home. The truth of the matter was, she was only trying so hard to be a dragon slayer because she wanted to make her father proud of her and not disappointed for once in her life, even if it meant denying who she was inside. Her father was her hero.

A Nadder head got you noticed, Gronckles were tough and taking down one of those often got a boy a girlfriend, a Hideous Zippleback with its two heads meant twice the status, and only best Vikings like her father went after the Monsterous Nightmares—a dragon that had a very bad habit of setting itself on fire as while dragons were fire-proof, their surroundings and humans weren't. But the ultimate prize was the one dragon no one had ever seen, the Night Fury.

When the Fury's called was heard, everyone got down to shield themselves from its attack. The Night Fury never stole food, never showed itself and it never missed. It was like the raiding dragons' protector as it always hit the catapults, towers and everything but the livestock and houses. No one had ever slain a Night Fury, but Lenora had hopes that she might be the first one to do so.

She finished up her work just as Gobber was replacing his hook with an axe. "Mind the fort, Lenora. They need me out there. Stay put, you hear me?"

"I hear you," she said. "Watch yourself out there."

Gobber nodded and then let out a battle cry as he ran out into the battlefield.

Lenora smiled to herself as an idea struck her. She grabbed her invention and ran out, ignoring the protests of the other Vikings.

_I said I heard him, I didn't say I would stay put, _she thought, as she aimed her invention at the skies. _If I actually put this off, Dad might not kill me and he'll finally have reason to be proud of me. I just need one chance, just one and I can prove myself._

"Come on, give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at," she muttered. After a few moments, she was able to make out the Night Fury's black form among the starry sky and then she fired. The bola hit the Night Fury and caused it to land off Raven Point.

Lenora let out a joyful yell. "Yes, I did it!" she cried. "I hit it! I hit it! Did anyone see that?" But when she turned around, she saw no one had. She turned around again when she heard a crunch, and saw that her invention was wrecked thanks to the Monstrous Nightmare behind her. "No one saw it, except for you."

The Nightmare nodded before firing at her as she started running for her life. She was an idiot, a complete idiot. Why hadn't she grabbed a shield before going out? She narrowly dodged the dragon's attacks, and eventually hid behind a pole. She didn't stay hidden for long, as the dragon found her. She was about to run again before it could attack, but then suddenly, Stoick appeared and saved her. He knocked it down and wacked it with his new hammer before it took off.

At that point, Lenora emerged from her hiding place as the dragons took off, looking sheepish. "Hi, Dad," she said, forcing a smile. But Stoick just glared at her. "Okay, I know I messed up, but I hit a Night Fury."

Stoick just grabbed her by the arm and starting dragging her off towards the house. He clearly didn't believe her.

"Dad, I'm telling you the truth! I really did hit it! You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot!" she protested. "It went down off Raven Point. Let's get a search party and—"

"Stop!" interrupted Stoick. "Just stop. You nearly got yourself killed out there! Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I've got an entire village to feed!"

Lenora was stung by her father's words and her hurt showed, despite her efforts to hide it. "I know we've got problems," she said. She knew that all too well. She'd secretly been working on preserving food and blankets and firewood when she wasn't in the forge, to prepare for the upcoming winter. "But I didn't think you thought of me as one of your problems!"

"That's not what I meant, Lenora!" growled Stoick. "Don't twist my words! Why can't you just follow the simplest orders?"

"Dad, I can't help it. I'm just trying to be a dragon slayer, like you and like everyone else in the village! What is so wrong with that?" she asked. "It's who I am."

Stoick sighed as he put his hand on his forehead. "You're many things, Lenora, but a dragon slayer's not one of them." He turned to Gobber. "Take her home and make sure she gets there. I've got her mess to clean up."

Lenora could see there would no point in speaking further, so she just hung her head and walked beside Gobber back to her house as the others laughed at her.

"Quite the performance," sneered Tuffnut.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped," said Snotlout, which earned him a smack upside the head from Gobber.

"Thank you. Thank you, I was trying," she said, sarcastically. As always, she was the village jester. If they weren't making fun of her clothes, which was just a simple grass green tunic, brown leggings, brown boots and darker green jacket, they were making fun of everything else about her.

Gobber squeezed her shoulder, trying to comfort her but it did little good.

"I really did hit one, Gobber," said Lenora, as they walked up the front steps of her house. "You do believe me, don't you?"

"Course I do, lass," said Gobber. "You're not one for telling stories or lies."

Lenora smiled. "Thanks." She bit her lip. "What I am going to do about Dad? He never listens and when he does, it's with this disappointed scowl, like someone's skimped on the meat in his sandwich." She then did a very accurate impression of her father, voice and all. "Excuse me, barmaid, I think you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking girly fishbone." She let out a frustrated growl. "Like it's _my _fault, I wasn't the son he wanted!"

If it wasn't for the fact that she took more after her mother both in personality and looks, Lenora would think she was adopted, because she wasn't much like her father or her cousin and his family. She just wasn't like the others of the village of Berk and if anything, being different was proving to be a bad thing. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to fit in before now, but she just couldn't do it.

Gobber laughed at her imitation of Stoick before turning serious. "Lenora, you're thinking about this wrong. It's not the fact you're a girl he can't stand, it's what it's inside he doesn't like."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat. "Way to pour salt into the wound," she snapped.

"That didn't come out right, I'm sorry," said Gobber. He sighed. "Look, the point is, stop trying to be something you're not. You know I'm proud of you. Why don't you show him some of things you get up to at the forge or all those little projects you're always working on?"

Lenora shook her head. "I can't. Just trying to be like everyone else makes him so annoyed with me as it is, so why bother proving to him that I'm even more different than he already knows? He doesn't even realize my blacksmith work is mine, he just thinks it's yours. The only reason he even lets me work with you is because you needed an apprentice and you're my godfather. Don't get me wrong, I like working with you, but being a dragon's slayer the only way I'll ever win his approval."

"You don't know that for sure," said Gobber, but they both knew it was probably true. "He just doesn't want to lose you, like he lost your mother. You're all he has left."

"I know that! But Mom didn't die in the dragon raids," said Lenora. Lenora's mother, Val, had died when Lenora was six from an illness. Val had only fought when necessary as she didn't believe in violence. Her loss had deeply shaken the people of Berk as she'd been the heart and soul of the village. "And I don't want to lose Dad, either. But I don't try and stop him from protecting Berk, do I?"

"No, you don't," he admitted.

She bit her lip before shaking her head again. "Let's face it, it's a lose-lose situation. If I just be myself, I'll only make him more disappointed in me. If I don't be a dragon slayer, I'll never win his approval," said Lenora. She sighed as she tucked a lose strand of her hair behind her ear. "All I want is for him to be proud of me. For once, I don't want to be Lenora the Useless to him."

Gobber's face softened. "Lass, that's not—"

"Don't say it's not true. We both know that's how Dad and the rest of the village see me," she interrupted. She sighed again before hugging him. "But thanks for trying anyway, Gobber. It's nice to know someone likes the real me."

"And I always will. Nora, it's been a long night and it's barely dawn. Why don't you get some sleep?" he advised. "I'll talk to your old man for you. Things will get better, you'll see."

Lenora nodded and went inside, only to sneak out the backdoor the minute he was gone. Thor help her, she was going to find the Night Fury and bring honor to her family's name.


	2. Decisions

Decisions

Meanwhile, in the Main Hall, Stoick was talking with the other Vikings and the Elders as he made his plans to try and find the dragons nest. Vikings had been trying to find the nest for over three hundred years, ever since the first dragon raid, but every attempt to find it had been fruitless. Stoick was getting more obsessed with it by the day.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us!" he barked. "It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home!" He plunged his knife into the map. "One more search before the ice sets in."

Unease and fear settled on the other Vikings.

"Those ships never come back," said a redheaded Viking.

"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?" demanded Stoick. No one raised their hands. Stoick frowned as he folded his arms. "All right, those who stay will look after Lenora and keep her out of trouble."

That did the trick as everyone raised their hands and agreed to go before leaving the Hall. While Lenora was nice girl and people did like her somewhat, no one favored the task of looking after her as trying to keep her out of trouble was a feat in itself and risking the Chief's anger if anything happened to his only child, was not worth it. It was cruel, but it was true.

Gobber wiped his mouth of the ale mustache from the mug he'd been drinking. "Well, I'll be sure to pack my undies, then."

"No, I need you to stay and train the new recruits," said Stoick.

Gobber nodded. "Okay, fine. I'll have Lenora cover the stall for me. She'll keep herself busy." Gobber may not have thought much about Lenora's desire to be a dragon slayer, but he took pride in her blacksmith skills.

Stoick paled. While Lenora had worked with Gobber since she was six and she was nearly of age, he didn't like the thought of her working in forge alone without Gobber watching her. Molten steel, razor-sharp blades, a lot of time to herself…it had disaster written all over it!

He groaned as he shook his head. "What am I going to do with her, Gobber?"

"Put her in training with the others," he suggested. He didn't like the idea anymore than Stoick did, but perhaps Lenora had a point. Maybe she'd do well in the ring if she had the chance.

"No, I'm serious!" said Stoick.

"So am I," said Gobber.

"She'd be killed before you'd let the first dragon out of its cage!" protested Stoick.

"You don't know that."

"I do know that, actually."

"No, you don't."

"No, I do!"

"No, you don't!" said Gobber, firmly.

Stoick rose up from his seat. "Listen, you know what she's like. From the time she could crawl, she's been…different. She's too much like her mother in so many ways. Worse still, she doesn't listen; she has the attention span of a sparrow. I took out hunting once, and she gathered herbs and flowers and she went looking for trolls!"

Gobber immediately came to his goddaughter's defense. "She was gathering the plants because the healer needed them and she was trying to help! And trolls exist! They steal your socks. But only the left ones, what's up with that?"

Stoick sighed again. "I can't put her in the ring. She'll just get herself killed and I promised Val I'd take care of her." He then began recanting the same old story of his boyhood yet again. "When I was a boy, my father told me to bang my head against a rock. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?" said Gobber, bored.

"That rock split in two," he said, ignoring Gobber's remark. "It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber! He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a child, I knew what I was, what I had to become. Lenora's not that person."

That earned him a hard smack upside the head from Gobber.

Stoick rubbed the back of his head while glaring at his old friend. "What was that for?"

"Are you completely dead in the head, man? Lenora's cleverer than you give her credit for! She may not know who exactly she is inside right now, but she knows what she has to become, and what she wants. All she wants is to become a proper Viking so that she can make you proud of her, like she's proud of you! You're her hero!" yelled Gobber. "If you'd just take the time to talk to her and actually _listen_ to what she has to say, then you'd see than you have more in common than you realize. She's really a brilliant girl and you'd see that if you just took the time to talk and listen to her."

"But what could we possibly talk about?" asked Stoick. "She's not like the rest of us!"

Gobber sighed in exasperation. Did his words always fall on deaf ears? "You can't stop her, Stoick. You can only prepare her. I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is, you won't always be around to protect her. She's going to get out there again. She's probably out there now," he said.

Stoick didn't reply.

"My point is, she's going to be of age in a few weeks, and by then she'll be able to decide what she wants to do with her life with or without your approval. If you don't do something and soon, before you know it, she's going to be on a path of her own choosing and she'll have someone else to rely that's not you. You won't know the first thing about her and you'll have no one to blame but yourself," said Gobber. A smirk crossed his face. "Or maybe she'll finally tell Aster how she feels and he'll return her affections."

Stoick went as red as a tomato with anger. Lenora was hopeless, but she was still his baby girl and it was his job to chase away any menfolk from her that he didn't approve of. "No boy's coming near my daughter until she's of age, and I don't care who she pads after. That's final!"

Gobber laughed. "You're acting like any father does, Stoick. But Lenora's as stubborn as you are, and if she wants to marry some boy, then she will. You know she will. And Aster's a fine young lad, and you know it. But you need make up your mind about what you're going to do and soon."

Stoick didn't reply, knowing Gobber was right. He had to make a choice regarding his daughter's future and soon.

**XXX**

The skies were clear, the weather was warm and the sun was out, making it a beautiful day, but it was in clear contrast to Lenora's mood. She'd been out for hours, trying to find the Night Fury she'd hit, and was growing increasingly frustrated when she couldn't find it, despite marking the places it could've landed on her map. Thoroughly agitated, she stuffed her things into her pocket and went on walking through the forests. Normally, Raven Point was a place of solace for her, but not today.

"The gods hate me," she muttered. "Some people lose their knife or their mug, but not me. No, I manage to lose an entire dragon!" _Why me?_ She certainly was talented.

Lenora was on the verge of giving up when she came across a large tree that was split in two. So were several other trees and there was a path like a trench that was leading right down the hill. Not daring to hope, Lenora ran down the path until she came to a small valley where a Night Fury, tightly bound by a bola lay.

_Holy crap, I actually did it! I brought down a Night Fury! _

She grabbed her dagger from her pocket and slowly approached the sleeping beast. It let out a soft moan as she approached it. Lenora paused for a moment, unable to stop herself from admiring the dragon. It was male, black as the night sky, sleek and apparently very well-fed. The dragon was quite magnificent, actually.

Lenora took a deep breath as she prepared to strike. _I can do this. I just have to do what I need to and Dad will be proud of me at last. I just have to kill the Night Fury. I can do this. I'm the daughter of Stoick the Vast! I'm a Viking, I am a Viking!_

She was about to do it, but then her green eyes met the dragon's green eyes and suddenly, she couldn't do it. She couldn't kill it. The dragon was just like her—alone, different, trying to do what was best and above all, he was frightened. She dropped her knife as she gazed at the poor beast. "I did this," she whispered. She'd done this and now she had to fix it.

After making sure no one was coming, Lenora knelt down and placed her hand on the dragon's shoulder, making it look at her in confusion.

"I'm so, so sorry," she murmured. "I got you into this mess, but I'm going to get you out of it. I thought I could be one of them, but my father was right, I'm no dragon slayer." She felt tears sting her eyes as she then began cutting the bola's ropes. "I hope you can forgive me." She cut the last of the rope, freeing the dragon from her trap.

The minute the dragon was freed, it leapt up, pinned her to a rock and then let out a roar at her before it licked her face and then took off. It was flying badly, but it was gone after a few moments.

Lenora then rose to her feet as she picked up her knife. She was shaken and confused by the Night Fury's behavior. It scared her because it was mad, and it had a right to be, but why had it licked her face? Why hadn't the dragon killed her? Had it forgiven her like she'd asked it to?

_I can't think about that now. I should just be glad I'm alive. _She headed back to her house. _Well, this just proves that Dad and Gobber were right. I'm no dragon slayer. I wanted Dad to be proud of me, but I can't do it like this. He may never approve of me, but I don't know what else to do. I'm just going to have to tell him that I've changed my mind about all this and hope I can find another way._

When she finally arrived home, it was dark and Stoick was sitting by the fire. She could tell he was in deep thought and therefore, not up for talking, or maybe he was still mad about before. Either way she decided to speak to him before he left on his search for the nest in the morning, which would be later. She was almost up the stairs when he spoke to her.

"Lenora," said Stoick, without turning around. "Come down here for a minute."

_So close and yet so far. How does he always do that? _Lenora climbed down the stairs. "Yes, Dad?" she said. She sighed. "Dad, I need to talk to you."

"I need to speak with you, too," said Stoick, as he turned to face her.

Unfortunately, they both took a deep breath and spoke at the same time.

"I've decided I don't want to fight dragons," said Lenora.

"I've decided it's time you learned to fight dragons," said Stoick.

As both their sentences ended with "dragons," they stared at each other and said, "What?"

"You go first," said Stoick, politely.

"No, you go first," said Lenora. He was her father and he went first, right? Regardless of chivalry rules, right? And besides, whatever had he had to tell her couldn't be that bad, could it?

"All right," said Stoick. He sighed. "You get your wish. Dragon training. You start first thing in the morning. And I've thought about it and decided that if Aster decides that he likes you, then I'm all for it. He's a fine young man and good pick. Better than some of the other idiots we've got around here."

Lenora immediately winced at her stupidity for not going first and turned red at the mention of her secret love for Aster. _I should've gone first. What was I thinking? I should've known something like this would happen after all my pestering about it. Be careful what you wish for! _

"Dad, my lack of a love life is not important right now," she said, quickly. "And besides, I was thinking that we have plenty of dragon-fighting Vikings. But Gobber really needs me in the forge, and besides, I need to work on my cooking skills and maybe help rebuild the houses lost in last raid. I mean, I've got a lot to do if I decide to become Chieftess one day or let Snotlout take the job. And let's be honest, why would Aster look twice at me?"

But Stoick didn't appear to hear her, as he handed her an axe so heavy that she nearly fell over. "You'll need this."

Lenora put the axe on the table. "I don't want to fight dragons!"

Stoick just laughed. "What're you talking about? Of course you do. You've been asking for this since you were six years old!"

"I've changed my mind, Dad!" she said. "Let me put this, another way: I _can't _kill dragons."

"But you _will _kill dragons," said Stoick, smiling.

"No, I'm dead sure that I won't," said Lenora, firmly. While she still wanted Stoick's approval, she was done trying to be a dragon slayer. It wasn't who she was and she just couldn't do it. The Night Fury in the forest had proved just that, but she couldn't tell him she'd found and freed the poor beast.

Stoick stepped forward. "It's time, Lenora."

Lenora let out an exasperated groan. She should've expected this. "You're not listening to me."

"This is serious, Lenora!" said Stoick, sharply. He picked up the axe. "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. Which means, you walk like us, you talk like us, and you think like us. No more of…this."

Lenora glared at him. "First off, I'm pretty sure that I can't be one of you. And second, you just gestured to all of me!"

"Do we have a deal?" asked Stoick, as if she hadn't spoken.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided," said Lenora, deeply annoyed.

"Deal?" said Stoick, loudly and sternly.

Lenora sighed as she nodded. She'd just have to do her best to not get killed. Well, who knew what would happen? Maybe this could prove to be a good thing. She knew she had no chance of winning first place in the arena, but maybe she could take down the dragons and still win her father's approval.

"Good girl," said Stoick. He placed his bag on his shoulder. "Now, stuff's come up and I have to leave early, but I'll be back if I can. Train hard and make me proud."

"I'll try," said Lenora. She didn't want to do this, but she'd try for Stoick's sake, if nothing else. "Hey, Dad, wait a minute."

"What is it?" asked Stoick, turning to face her.

Lenora reached into her large chest where she kept all her projects and things she didn't want others to touch and pulled out a thick blanket and newly made shield along with a bundle of his favorite foods. She'd made them herself for Stoick, but didn't say so aloud.

"Here. I thought you could use these for your trip," she said.

Stoick gave her a rare smile as he took the items. "Thanks, Lenora." He kissed her head. "You be a good girl, okay?"

She nodded. "I will. Travel safely, Dad."

"I'll do my best," he promised.

The minute he was gone, Lenora sank into the nearest chair before burying her face in her hands. _I'm dead, I'm so freaking dead!_


	3. Forbidden Friendship

Forbidden Friendship

Early the next morning, Lenora walked behind the other recruits into the dragon arena. It was a large room with areas above for spectators and there were large stone doors keeping the dragons tightly locked up in their pens. This was where the trainees learned the skills necessary for their future lives as dragon slayers and where the older Vikings trained to keep in practice.

"Welcome to dragon training!" said Gobber, as he let them in.

Aster led the other trainees in, looking proud and strong and confident as usual. He was always fearless. But then again, he had to be. He was everyone's favorite.

"I hope I get some serious burns," said Tuffnut.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or my lower back," said Ruffnut.

"It's only fun if you get a scar out of it," said Aster, in agreement.

"No kidding," said Lenora, catching their attention at last.

Everyone except for Aster and Fishlegs gave her a dirty look.

"Oh, great, who let the village reject in?" asked Tuffnut.

Lenora glared. "My dad and Gobber did, actually. And another thing—" She knocked over the heavy basket she'd brought, and the weapons spilled out of it. "Unless you want to fight unarmed, I brought weapons from the forge for everyone."

Surprisingly enough, everyone agreed with her and picked a weapon from the pile. Aster picked himself an axe.

"This fits perfectly," said Aster, as he held the blade in his hands. "It's great."

"Glad you like it, I made them all myself," said Lenora, blushing.

Aster looked surprised. "Really? Impressive. Thanks, Lenora."

Lenora smiled as she picked up her own weapon before Gobber said, "Let's get started! The recruit who does the best will have the honor of killing their first dragon in front of the entire village."

"Lenora already killed a Night Fury, does that disqualify her or something?" joked Snotlout, as the others laughed.

Lenora ignored Gobber's attempts to comfort her as she tightly clenched her axe in her hands and took her place beside others before Gobber continued his prep talk.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species of dragon you'll learn to fight!" said Gobber, pointing to each door as he spoke. "The Deadly Nadder."

"Speed eight, armor sixteen," recited Fishlegs, like an eager schoolboy.

"The Hideous Zippleback."

"Plus eleven stealth, times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Firepower fifteen."

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack eight, venom twelve."

"Can you stop that!" yelled Gobber. He placed his hand on the lever of the last cage. "And last, but not least, the Gronckle."

Fishlegs whispered to Lenora, "Jaw strength eight." Lenora didn't know whether to thank Fishlegs for telling them all this stuff, which was pretty useful in consideration, or to tell him to shut it as the information was frightening her.

Snotlout looked scared too. "Whoa, wait, aren't you going to teach us first?"

Gobber smirked. "I believe in learning on the job." And with that, he let loose the Gronckle from its cage as everyone ran for cover. "Today is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead! Quick! What's the first thing you need?"

"A shield!" said Aster.

"Shields, go!" ordered Gobber. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield! If you have to choose between a sword or a shield, take the shield!"

Aster, Fishlegs and Snotlout quickly grabbed their shields, but Ruffnut and Tuffnut were fighting over one, and Lenora was having trouble picking hers up. Despite working at the forge and carrying a ton of weapons, she wasn't that strong. Gobber helped her with it for a moment, before continuing his lesson. It was not going well as the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were the first ones out while they were fighting over their shield.

"Those shields are good for another thing," continued Gobber. "Noise! Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!"

Everyone, except for the twins, began banging on their shields with their weapons, which threw off the Gronckle, making it very disoriented.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots! How many does a Gronckle have?" asked Gobber.

"Six!" said Fishlegs, proudly.

"Correct, six! That's one for each of you!"

And just like that, Fishlegs's shield was blasted and he ran from the arena screaming. Snotlout soon followed after he tried to outshine Aster. Suddenly, Aster tripped and he lost his grip on his shield, which rolled away before the Gronckle pinned him to the ground.

"Aster!" yelled Lenora. With what little strength she possessed, she managed to fling her shield at the Gronckle, stopping its attack on Aster and sending it after her. Within moments, the Gronckle had her cornered and was about to fire its sixth shot before Gobber grabbed its jaw with his hook. Its fire blast instead hit the wall behind her.

"And that's six," said Gobber. He locked the Gronckle up again. "Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!" He turned to the younglings. "You'll get another chance, don't you worry. Remember, a dragon will always, _always _go for the kill."

Lenora said nothing and ignored the looks on everyone's faces as she left the arena, just wanting to get away for a while. Her mind was abuzz with thoughts. She'd managed to rescue Aster, but also nearly got herself killed. And she didn't know what to think of Gobber's words. If dragons always went for the kill, then why didn't the Night Fury kill her? She was unarmed and trapped, so why hadn't he?

She wandered the forest until she found the crash site, and then went on walking until she came upon a deep cove. It was beautiful with the foliage, the crystal clear spring, lake and flowers. There was no sign of even a human being here, much less a regular dragon. There was no sign of the Night Fury, much to her disappointment. She was about to turn back, when she saw dragon scales beside her. Black dragon scales.

She knelt down to examine them, only to be startled when the Night Fury came out of nowhere and startled her. From where she was hidden, she could see the Night Fury was trying and failing to get out of the cove. It couldn't climb out and it didn't appear to be able to fly well, much to Lenora's confusion. She'd seen it flying perfectly just last night. What had happened?

Curious and eager to learn more, she pulled out her notebook and quickly sketched the Night Fury with great detail as she watched it. It also seemed to have a problem getting food, as it tried and failed to catch the fish in the water. Poor thing was probably starving. Lenora felt a pang of pity for the poor beast, but suddenly felt afraid when she dropped her pencil and caught the dragon's attention.

She didn't move, as the dragon caught her gaze. The dragon was tense and looked prepared to pounce, like a cat, but it didn't move. They just watched each other for a moment until the dragon lost its predator look and for a brief moment, it looked almost friendly. But then it turned away and curled up to go to sleep.

Taking that as her cue to leave, Lenora headed back to the village, but she fully intended to return after tomorrow's training.

**XXX**

It was raining when Lenora finally returned to the village and went to the Main Hall for dinner. Gobber and the others were discussing what everyone had done wrong in the ring today and how to improve later on. Lenora took little notice of this. No one looked up when she came in, soaking to the bone from the rain and no one said a word when she took her dinner and sat at the only empty table in the hall by herself, as per usual. No one even took notice of her except for Gobber, who waved when she came in and then said, "Where did Lenora go wrong?"

The insults came as swiftly as a Night Fury's attack.

"She showed up," said Ruffnut.

"She didn't get eaten," said Tuffnut.

"She's never where she should be and she's useless," said Snotlout. "She may be my cousin and the future Chieftess, but come on! She's not one of us!"

Lenora didn't even wince as she sighed. Anyone else would've been upset, but not her. She just bore it all with silence as she didn't see any sense in picking a fight or reason to stand up for herself when it wouldn't do any good. She was used to this kind of treatment. The petty insults were nothing new to her, but oddly enough, they quickly stopped when someone actually stood up for her.

"Hey, leave her alone, guys!" said Aster, sharply. "It's only her first day. Cut the girl some slack, all right? None of us did that well today, so don't go pointing fingers. And need I remind you, who it was that brought us all weapons she made herself and who it was that saved my life?"

Lenora was surprised, but grateful nevertheless. She shot Aster a grateful look before she went back to her dinner.

"Thank you, Aster," said Gobber, intervening before another fight started. "Now, you need live and breathe this stuff." He plopped a large leather book onto the other table. "The Dragons Manual. Everything we know about every dragon that we know of." He looked up at the sound of the thunder. "No attacks tonight. Study up and rest up."

"Wait, you mean read?" said Tuffnut, looking disgusted.

"While we're still alive?" said Ruffnut, surprised.

"Why read words when we can just kill the stuff words tell you stuff about?" said Snotlout.

Aster shook his head and sighed in exasperation as Fishlegs started going on about the exciting things he'd learned from reading the Manual seven times in a row. "You three are idiots. Gobber and Fishlegs are right, we need to study and stay sharp and reading the Manual's a part of that. Dragon slaying's not just charging in head first. You need a plan." He slipped the book under his arm and picked up his plate of food and his drink. He went over to Lenora's table. "Hey, mind if I sit here?"

Lenora looked up from her plate, feeling both startled and pleased by Aster's request to sit with her. While she did have feelings for him, and he was never mean to her, like the others, they'd never really been friends before and nor had anyone done what he'd just done for her before.

"No, please, go right ahead," she said, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

Aster sat down across from her as the others watched in sheer shock before they left, uninterested in reading the Manual and wanting to get some sleep for tomorrow.

"Thanks for standing up for me, Aster," said Lenora, quietly. "You didn't have to do that." But she was glad he had. No one had ever done that for her before.

Aster shook his head. "Not a problem. Besides, you saved my butt in the arena today," he said. "Thanks for that. I owe you one."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to lose that pretty head of yours, now would we?" she joked, making them both laugh.

Aster then looked serious. "Really though, you need to watch yourself out there. You could've been killed today. Just be a little more careful, because someday you might be out there alone."

She nodded. "Don't worry. I will be."

By now, they'd finished their dinners and were wiping their mouths.

"So, do you want to read the Manual first?"

"I've already read it. Help yourself," said Aster. He rose up from the table. "I've got to get home. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye."

Lenora slipped the book into her vest to keep it dry from the rain, and then headed home. Once she was inside, dried and in her bed with some candles going, she started reading the book.

"'_Dragon Classification: Strike Class. Fear Class. Mystery Class_.'" She turned to one of the scarier sections. "'_Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabit sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a human being at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight._'" Well, she was certainly never going to a sea cave or dark tide pool.

She kept on reading into the night. Some of the dragon species were quite interesting, even if they were terrifying. The Timberjack, whose wings were sharp enough to cut through entire trees. The Scauldron, which spewed boiling hot water at its enemies. The Changwing, where even newly hatched hatchlings could spew acid at its attackers. Every dragon species was different, and had a different way of ending it enemies, but every page all said the same thing about the dragon—extremely dangerous, kill on sight.

Every page said that except for that of the Night Fury's page. The information was minimal: speed and size was unknown, and the dragon was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. It was advised to never engage the dragon and instead pray to the heavens the dragon didn't find you.

Lenora frowned as she closed the book and laid down to go to sleep. She left the candles lit for a few moments as she was scared of thunderstorms due to the fact that her mother had died on a stormy night like this. The book was wrong about the Night Fury. It hadn't killed her; it hadn't even tried to hurt her. Heck, it had licked her face in a friendly manner! She needed to find out more information, if possible. She seriously doubted Gobber or even Fishlegs would be able to tell her more, so she'd just have to go to the source itself after tomorrow's training.

**XXX**

The next day in dragon training, they were trying to fight a Deadly Nadder in a maze that Gobber and some of the other men had created. Lenora was hating every moment of it as the Nadder seemed to be taking a particular interest her and as a result, she'd narrowly dodged being blasted several times in the last hour, both by its fire attack and the spikes it shot from its tail. She just wanted this to be over so she could get back to the Night Fury in the cove.

"Today, it's all about attack!" said Gobber. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter!"

Well, there was one upside about being a weak, skinny little twig—she had more agility. Lenora was quite fast, despite her physical state.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" yelped Fishlegs, as he dodged an attack.

"Look for its blind spot, every dragon has one!" said Gobber. "Find it, hide in it and strike!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were in the Nadder's blind spot, but then they nearly got blasted when they were spotted after arguing yet again.

_Those two need to stop arguing so much on the battlefield or they're going to get themselves killed! _thought Lenora.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much!" said Gobber, referring to the twins.

Lenora dodged another attack, and was trying to catch her breath when Aster hissed, "Lenora, get down!" He and Snotlout were crouching down behind their shields at the corner. Lenora did as they did, and they managed to cross without being seen, until the Nadder got on top of the maze and then cornered Snotlout and Aster.

Snotlout stepped forward. "Watch out, pretty boy. I'll take care of this one!" He flung his mace at the Nadder, only to miss badly. Snotlout tried to defend himself to Aster's angry glare as they ran for it. "The sun was in my eyes, Aster! What, do you want me to block out the sun?" It was a crappy excuse, considering that today was overcast without a ray of sunshine in sight.

The Nadder started chasing them, only to stop when it saw Lenora and it went after her instead, much to her annoyance.

_What, do I smell like a fish to you? _She ran as fast as she could, while the Nadder began knocking over the maze itself. Somehow, she managed to get on top of the maze just as it was collapsing, and came right up to Aster.

"Aster!" she yelled, as she fell right on top of him with his axe stuck in her shield. She felt a wave of embarrassment, as she and Aster tried to untangle themselves from each other, and were failing miserably. Certain comments weren't helping matters, either.

"Ooh, love on the battlefield," sneered Tuffnut.

"He could do better," said Ruffnut, in agreement.

Within moments, Aster was on top of Lenora, and barely managed to free his axe in time while covering her with her shield. He managed to swing his axe at the Nadder, not hard enough to do damage, but enough to send it back in its cage.

"Well done, Aster," said Gobber, proudly.

Aster nodded before helping Lenora up. "You okay?"

She nodded, not meeting his gaze as she still felt humiliated. "We're even now." She'd saved him, he'd saved her. They were good.

"Okay." Aster turned to Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, looking furious for their behavior in the ring. "YOU IDIOTS! Is this some kind of a joke to you three? Our parents' war is about to become ours! You need to get your head in the game and figure out which side you're on!"

Lenora winced as they all looked a little ashamed after Aster's scolding. She knew how it felt to be criticized so harshly like that and while she felt a little sympathetic, she knew Aster was right about everything. They had to be serious about this. She was serious about doing well and protecting her people, but she silently wondered which side she was on.

She shook herself as she left the arena quick as she could without looking back. _I'll worry about that later. Right now, I've got somewhere else I need to be. _Or rather, she had somewhere she'd rather be. Stoick would've had a stroke if he'd seen what happened today. The twins were right. Aster could do better than her, even if she was Stoick's daughter. Would she ever live this down?

**XXX**

Slipping away to the cove was an easy task, as she'd had years of practice in the art of disappearing. She took a shield, her dagger and a juicy codfish with her down to the cove.

Cautiously, she walked in. She got her shield stuck in between two boulders, but she still had her knife and she could always appease the dragon with the fish. Slowly, she walked around, looking for any sign of the Night Fury. She kept looking until she turned to her left and saw the dragon on top of a large rock, slowly coming towards her and arching its back and sniffing the air like a cat about to pounce on its prey.

_Stay calm, stay calm. If I'm calm, it should be too, _she told herself. "Hi, there," she said, feeling a little silly. "I saw you fishing yesterday, and I thought you might be hungry. I brought you this." She instantly wished she'd brought more as she held out the codfish to the black dragon.

The Night Fury opened its mouth and was about to take the fish, but then drew back, growling.

Lenora was puzzled until she remembered her knife, which was hanging on her belt. He must've seen it as a threat. "No, no, it's okay," she said, soothingly. She picked up the knife and tossed it into the lake's waters. "There, it's gone. Is that better?"

It certainly seemed to be, as the dragon lost its vicious look and instead, looked cute and playful like a kitten. Its ears went up and were long, like a rabbit's and it looked quite friendly as it came up to her, jaws wide for the fish in her hands.

Lenora frowned. "Toothless?" she said. "That's strange. I could've sworn you had—" but she was cut off as the dragon's teeth were apparently retractable. The teeth appeared and then suddenly, the dragon swallowed the fish whole. "—teeth," she finished.

The dragon then purred and started sniffing her, as if he was checking for more fish, making her back up until she was up against a rock.

"Sorry, but that's all I have," she said, apologetically.

The dragon looked disappointed, but then it suddenly tossed up half the fish she'd just given it, into her lap before it sat back on its back legs. The dragon looked at the fish in Lenora's lap, before looking back at her. Then she caught on.

"Oh, is this for me?" she asked.

The dragon nodded and then made little noises with its lips.

Lenora forced herself not to grimace. The dragon was trying to be nice by feeding her when it was clearly hungry itself, and she appreciated it but eating a raw fish? Gross! But as much as the thought disgusted her, she didn't want to appear rude, so she took a bite and swallowed, trying not to feel sick as she did so. Lenora smiled at the dragon, which licked its lips, looking pleased as it tried to imitate her smile.

"Thank you, but I'm full now." She held out the fish. "Would you like to eat the rest?"

The dragon paused for a moment before he nodded and quickly gobbled down the rest of the fish; before he went off to another section of the cove.

Lenora then rose up and tried to touch him, but apparently, he didn't fully trust her yet as he let out a little snarl and then took off to another part of the cove.

It warmed the ground with its fire breath before pawing it and then it curled up, as if to go to sleep. Its head shot up when a bird flew away from its nest, and there was a longing in the dragon's eyes, which quickly became replaced with annoyance when he saw Lenora, sitting cross-legged beside him. She smiled and waved at it, but the dragon just folded back its ears and covered its face with its remaining tail fin.

Lenora slowly walked to the dragon and reached out to touch the tail fin, but the dragon seemed to be able to read her mind as it quickly lifted its tail and gave her a look that said, "_What do you think you're doing?_" making Lenora get up and walk away, deciding to give the Night Fury some space as climbed a tree and then hung upside-down on one of the branches, asleep like a bat.

_He may have forgiven me for trapping him, but he still doesn't trust me. And who can blame him? I want to get to know him better, but how can I? How can I get him to trust me? _She didn't know what she was going to do, but she did know she wasn't going to give up anytime soon. She may not have been a proper Viking, but she was stubborn. And after working in the forge for nearly twelve years, she had learned the skill of patience.

_I'll keep trying to appease him and I'll let him come to me, _she decided. _And who knows? I might be lucky enough that he'll like me. _

The hours went by, and soon it was sunset but Lenora still hadn't left the cove. She wasn't needed at the forges and she didn't think anyone would really notice she was gone until dark for dinner or maybe even in the morning for dragon training, so she had plenty of time to stay with the dragon. At the moment, she was quite bored as she sat on a rock, idly drawing the dragon's image in the dirt with a stick as she had forgotten her notebook and pencil. She'd just finished the outline when the dragon came up beside her.

She didn't make eye contact, not wanting to annoy the dragon, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw him watching her with curiosity. The dragon was purring when she'd finished her drawing, and she took that as a sign that he liked it.

What the dragon did next, surprised her. It picked up a large tree branch and began making a bunch of silly-looking squiggles in the area around her. She rose up when the dragon stepped back, nodding and looking quite pleased with his work.

"Is this supposed to be me?" she asked.

The dragon nodded, purring.

"Aw, thanks, boy," she said, feeling touched. Not even Gobber had done something like this for her. She started to step out of the drawing, only to accidentally step one of the lines, which made him mad before she lifted her foot, and made him purr again. She raised an eyebrow before testing her theory a few times and laughed. The dragon was quite pleased with his work and didn't want it ruined. "Okay, okay, I'll be careful," she promised.

She then managed to step out of the drawing by doing some silly-looking dance, which got her out, but also right up against the dragon's face. She turned her head away, not wanting to offend the dragon with prolonged eye contact until she was sure he trusted her. She reached out her hand and waited until she finally felt the dragon nuzzle her palm as he purred.

Lenora finally looked up and smiled when she saw the dragon was returning her affectionate gaze. It continued purring as she gently rubbed his chin.

"Are we friends now?" she asked.

The dragon nodded.

She smiled for a moment, and then frowned in thought. "I need to call you something. I can't just call you 'Night Fury' or 'dragon.' That's just rude. You need a special name that fits you," said Lenora. "Would you like that?"

The dragon's ears perked up as he nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell you name and you tell me if you like it. What about Nightstorm?"

He growled.

"No, to Nightstorm, then," said Lenora. She thought for a moment. "What about Nightstar?"

He cocked his head in thought before again refusing.

"Onyx?"

He shook his head again.

"Ebony?"

He made a face as he stuck out his tongue, making her laugh.

"Toothless?" she suggested. _Well, he does have retractable teeth, so why not?_

The dragon paused for a moment and then nodded as he purred.

"Toothless, it is then," said Lenora, smiling. She glanced at the skies, noticing it was after dark. "Ah, crud, I have to get back to the village. Gobber's going to be wondering where I am for dinner." She didn't want to leave Toothless, but she knew she had to.

Toothless let out a soft moan as she turned to leave. He didn't want her to go either.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll be back really early tomorrow with an entire basketful of fish all for you, I promise," she said, as she patted his cheek. "I'll bring you lots of codfish. Does that sound good?"

Toothless let out an excited noise as he wagged his tail.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow." She started to leave and when she was at the entrance to cove, she turned back and said, "You know, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."


	4. Flying

Flying

For once in her life, Lenora was glad to be invisible. Dinner for all the trainees took place around one of the fire pits on the towers where everyone was sitting around roasting chicken or fish while Gobber was telling one of his famous dragon-slayer stories. Lenora didn't say much, she just sat quietly in the corner nearest the staircase as she further cooked her half-eaten fish and listened to Gobber's story along with everyone's chit-chat.

"…and with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole!" said Gobber. "And I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must've passed the word because it wasn't a month later before another one of them took my leg."

Lenora smiled to herself as the others gasped in awe. Gobber was stronger than she could ever hope to be. How many men could lose a hand and leg in battle and yet still do what he did everyday with a smile on his face?

"Isn't weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon? Like if your mind was still in control of it, you could've killed the dragon from inside by crushing its heart," said Fishlegs.

_Fishlegs, you really should become a writer. You'd be brilliant at it. _

"I swear I'm so angry right now," said Snotlout, looking angry as he spoke to Gobber. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon that I fight, with my face!"

Lenora bit back a snort. She didn't doubt Snotlout could be a great fighter if he put his mind to it, but killing dragons with his face? That was just crazy.

Gobber shook his head. "No, it's the wings and the tail that you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon."

Horror settled on Lenora at these words as she thought of Toothless and his missing tail fin. He couldn't fly and it was no wonder! With one of his tailfins missing after being shot down, his balance was off and he was now a downed dragon! She felt a pang of guilt before an idea came to her. She would get Toothless back in the air, Thor help her.

Gobber yawned and stretched. "All right, I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys, slowly but surely, making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who'll win the honor of killing it?"

"It's going to be me," bragged Tuffnut. "It's my destiny, see?"

Fishlegs gasped. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?"

"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark," said Tuffnut.

"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth and that was never there before," said Ruffnut.

Lenora tried to stifle a laugh as she slipped away down the stairs. The twins were bickering idiots, but she had to admit, they were pretty funny at times. She was halfway down the stairs, unnoticed by her companions, when someone called out, "Hey, Lenora, wait up!"

Lenora froze in her tracks and turned around to see Aster.

"Aster, hi," she said, softly. She rubbed the back of her neck, like she always did when she was particularly nervous. She sighed. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, about what happened in the arena today. I didn't mean for that to happen. I just—"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted. "It was an accident." He smiled a little and looked a little nervous. "I'm lousy at this kind of thing, but can I walk you home?"

Aster? Lousy? Had she really just heard him say that along with asking if he could walk her home? She was surprised. "Well, uh, actually I'm headed to the forge. I've got some project I want to finish. But, yes, you can walk me there if you'd like."

Aster smiled and then they walked side-by-side down to the forge.

"Where were you after training? You seemed to just disappear when I had my back turned."

"I was out in the woods," she said. "I go there a lot whenever I'm not busy." _It's one of my few escapes from my problems and Berk._

He nodded. "I go there a lot, too. For target practice and some peace and quiet."

They stopped walking when they came to the forge.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then?" said Aster.

Lenora nodded. "I'll be there. And thanks, Aster, for everything."

"You're-Welcome," said Aster, before waving good-bye and heading off for his house.

Once he was gone, Lenora could not bite back the squeal that entered her throat as she went to her workstation. Maybe she did have a chance with him after all. But she forced herself to push that aside as she cleared off her table, pulled out her notebook with the sketch of Toothless and set to work.

She got a fire blazing and then pulled out metal from old shields and broken down swords. For the next several hours, she made metal balls for the prosthetic tailfin, a long metal bar, and other parts for the structure. She then got out a large piece of tan-colored cloth and sewed it onto the metal structure before attaching pieces of leather and belt buckles which would keep the prosthetic tailfin attached to Toothless' tail. When she was finished, she stood back and smiled proudly at her work.

_I really hope this works. Toothless deserves to be able to fly again. _

She hid her project away and then got some sleep. She had plenty to do in the morning.

Lenora woke up an hour before dawn.

Along with the new tailfin, she grabbed a basket and fishing supplies. After an hour of work, she managed to fill an entire basket of fish with plenty of codfish, all for Toothless. She then packed up and headed down to the cove, where the dragon was waiting for her.

"Hey, Toothless, I'm back!" she called out.

Toothless, who'd been asleep, immediately woke up and bounded over to her, like an eager puppy, and licked her face.

"Yuck! Toothless!" laughed Lenora. "Yeah, I'm happy to see you too. I hope you're hungry, because I brought breakfast." She put the basket on the ground and knocked it over, causing all the fish to spill out and Toothless to lick his lips in anticipation. "I got some salmon and plenty of codfish, like I promised. And a whole smoked eel."

Toothless, who had been eagerly sniffing the fish, instantly recoiled, and let out a soft growl, much to her confusion.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Lenora. She put down the prosthetic tailfin and then she saw it. The eel. She picked it up, making Toothless snarl and hiss in fear. "No, no, no, no, it's okay!" she said, quickly, as she flung the eel away. _Note to self: always make sure there're no eels in his food. _"There, see? It's gone. It's okay, I don't like eel much either." She rubbed his cheek. "I'm sorry; I didn't know eels were bad for you. Do you forgive me?"

Toothless nodded as he purred, making her smile. He then knelt down and began gobbling up all the fish whole.

"That's it, good boy," murmured Lenora, as she picked up the tailfin and snuck behind his back. "That's it, just stick with the good stuff. Don't you mind me; I'll just be back here minding my own business." _I'll be back here, trying to attach your new prosthetic. _

She knelt down and tried to put the prosthetic on, but every time she got close, Toothless moved his tail away, making her very annoyed. "Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?" she muttered. How was she supposed to get this on if he didn't hold still?

Finally, while Toothless was sticking his head in the fish basket to check for more fish, she sat down on his tail and was able to attach the prosthetic. She made sure it was on tightly enough, so that it wouldn't slip off during a flight, not noticing that Toothless had gotten his head out of the basket and was wagging his other tailfin, as if sensing the new balance.

When it was on nice and tight, she unfolded the prosthetic. Except for the color of the prosthetic, anyone would've thought it was his natural tailfin. _Maybe I'll paint it black later so it'll match better, but—whoa!_

She suddenly found herself clinging to Toothless' tail for dear life as the dragon suddenly took off. "Whoa, Toothless!" she yelled. "You weren't supposed to take off yet!" But that didn't matter as they were about to crash, and would have done so, had Lenora not extended the prosthetic just in time for Toothless to fly out of the cove. "It's working!"

She angled the prosthetic, which allowed Toothless to take them back to the cove, much to her delight. But then Toothless turned sharply, causing her to fall off and land in the lake before he fell in the water too, unable to fly without her assistance.

Lenora let out a cry of joy before she found herself in Toothless' arms before he got them both out of the water. He then nudged her and looked at her with concern.

"I'm okay, boy, I'm okay," she assured him. She sighed, happily. "That was so amazing, Toothless! Do you realize what this means? I have to make some modifications, but I _will _be able to get you up and flying again!"

Toothless let out an excited noise before nuzzling her, as if he was saying thank-you.

"It's not a problem. I mean, it was my fault you were crippled in the first place," she said, guiltily. She felt bad because if it wasn't for her shooting him down, he'd still be flying naturally. "Do you forgive me for that?"

Toothless nodded and licked her face.

She smiled. "Thanks, buddy. Hey, I was wondering, do you want me to paint your prosthetic black, so it'll match your other tailfin?" she asked.

Toothless swung his tail over to his face and paused for a moment before shaking his head.

"Okay, whatever floats your boat," said Lenora. She smiled. "I don't have training for another two hours. Do you want to go swimming?"

Toothless nodded before kneeling down and beckoning for her to get on his back, which she did. Once she was on his back, he dove into the water. The lake wasn't very big, some of it was quite deep and the cold water was refreshing after working so long in the hot forge. Toothless dove all the way to the bottom before taking them to the surface for air, and then he jumped in and out of the water like a salmon going upstream, before he floated on his back while she was on his stomach, letting the sun's rays dry her off.

After two hours, Lenora reluctantly had Toothless go back to shore before she wrung the rest of the water out of her hair and redid her braid.

"I've got to go, now," she said. "I'll be back tomorrow. I've got dragon training and I need to work more on your prosthetic so I can get you flying again."

Toothless nodded before licking her face again and giving her a concerned look and wrapping his wings around her. Clearly, he was worried about her facing another dragon.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," she promised. She got out of his protective cover, and walked over to where she'd dropped the eel and picked it up. "Hey, Toothless, do all dragons hate eels?"

Toothless nodded, while keeping a safe distance from the slimy thing.

"Then I'll use this if I get into trouble," said Lenora, as she stuffed it into her jacket. "After that, I'll get rid of it for good, I promise. See you soon, Toothless!"

Quick as she could, Lenora ran back to the village and headed for the arena.

She arrived just in time as Gobber had her and all the others paired off after giving them each a bucket of water. Snotlout was with Tuffnut, Ruffnut was with Aster and Lenora was with Fishlegs. What could possibly go wrong?

After opening one of the cage doors, the entire arena was filled with thick, grey gas.

"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky," said Gobber. "One head breathes gas while the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which."

Lenora found herself alone with Fishlegs as they both clutched their buckets to their chests. "Fish, what do we need to know about the Zippleback?" she whispered. She had the eel, true, but any extra tips would be useful.

Fishlegs looked pleased that someone was actually asking for his help. Despite being a know-it-all, he tended to ramble on a bit, which often led to him being told to shut it.

"It had razor-sharp serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. It prefers ambush attack, and crushing its victims," whispered Fishlegs. "It has enhanced vision that allows it to see through the gas it emits, and also has incredibly sharp hearing."

"Thanks," she whispered.

They walked around carefully, keeping their backs to each other and soon found themselves near the others. Snotlout and Tuffnut were acting like idiots, again.

"If that dragon shows either of its faces, I'm going to—" Snotlout cut himself off when he saw something. "There!"

He and Tuffnut then flung their water at their target, only to find that what they thought was a dragon's spiky head, was the horns on Ruffnut's helmet. Ruffnut and Aster looked very displeased.

"Hey, it's us, idiots!" snarled Ruffnut.

"Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were a dragon," said Tuffnut.

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure," teased Snotlout.

This earned Snotlout a long overdue punch in the face from Aster, and Tuffnut got hit in the head with Ruffnut's water bucket, before both boys were suddenly pulled away into the gas. Aster held up his hand, preventing Ruffnut from stepping forward, before they were suddenly knocked down and his water bucket emptied by the dragon's tail, which swept under their feet.

Tuffnut and Snotlout ran away screaming at this point, Aster and Ruffnut were forced to leave, being unarmed, leaving Fishlegs and Lenora alone.

Fishlegs looked terrified. "Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now," he whimpered.

Suddenly, one of the Zippleback heads appeared and went straight for Fishlegs, making him panic before he drenched the dragon's head with his water, only to discover gas and not sparks was emitting from the beast's mouth.

"Wrong head," he whimpered.

"Fishlegs, run!" yelled Lenora, as he was hit with gas and ran away screaming. She then found herself face-to-face with the Zippleback's second head, which was emitting sparks and about to light the gas on fire. Quick as she could, she tossed her water at its head, only to see that the dragon's head had gone up higher than she could reach.

"Oh, crap," she muttered, as the dragon lunged for her, knocking her down.

"Lenora!" shouted Gobber, about to run in and protect his goddaughter.

But Lenora shocked them all when she rose up and started pushing the Zippleback back into its cage, as it had smelled the eel scent on her, and was recoiling in fear.

"Back! Back! Back!" she commanded, as she made a shooing gesture with her hands. "Now, don't make me tell you again! Yes, that's right! Get back in there! Back into your cage! Now, think about what you've done." After making sure no one could see, she tossed eel from her jacket into the cage as she whispered, "I'll remove it later, sorry!" and then she closed the cage doors.

_Thank Odin I found out the trick with eel. _

When she turned around and wiped her hands on her shirt, everyone was staring at her like she had lobsters crawling out of her ears. Their eyes were wide and their jaws would've fallen to the ground if they weren't attached.

"What? What're you all staring at?" she asked, nervously.

"How in the Nine Realms of Asgard did you do that?" demanded Snotlout, breaking the silence. "It looked like it was scared to death of you!"

Lenora gave a nervous smile. "Well, you know…you pick up a few things." She really was a bad liar. Feeling quite nervous, and not wanting for anyone to notice the smoked eel scent on her hands, she changed the subject. "Well, if we're done, I'd better get going then. I've got a lot of work to do. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, Lenora left the arena and went straight to the forge without looking back.

After several hours of making plans, working with metal, sewing through tough leather, Lenora was able to make a saddle that would allow her to ride on Toothless' back.

The minute she got the chance, she ridded the Zippleback of the offending eel and made amends to the poor beast with some of the extra fish she'd caught, and then she went down to the cove, with Toothless' breakfast.

She was immediately pounced on by Toothless, when she arrived in the cove. He let out a soft noise before he nuzzled her and purred.

"Oh, was somebody worried about me? That's sweet. But, I'm okay, Toothless, really!" she said. "Now, would you please get off of me, you overgrown lizard?"

Toothless obliged, and then eagerly tore into his breakfast while she got out the saddle and told him about yesterday's training.

"You should've seen the looks on everyone's faces when I made that Hideous Zippleback go back into its cage with the eel I hid in my jacket. It was so funny," said Lenora, chuckling.

Toothless let out a little growl, but he didn't look up from his fish.

"You don't like Zipplebacks, do you? Well, I don't blame you. They've always creeped me out. Something about their snake-like manner," said Lenora, shaking her head. "When you're done eating, I've got something to show you."

Toothless swallowed the last of his food and then turned to look at her, curiously.

"So, since your new tailfin needs me to work it and I need to be able to stay on your back and not get my clothes worn out by rubbing against your scales, so I made this," she said, holding up the saddle. "We just need to put it on for a test run."

But Toothless apparently had other ideas. He hunched up and started running away from the saddle, while making faces at her as she chased after him. She couldn't catch up with him, and soon admitted defeat when she ran out of energy and sat down, trying to catch her breath as Toothless sat by her looking smug.

"You're stubborn, you know that?" she said. She sighed. "About this: if you let me put this on you and it works, then I'll get you extra codfish, and we'll do whatever else you want. Deal?"

Toothless titled his head, as if in consideration, and then nodded.

"Okay, then. Let's do this," said Lenora.

She got the saddle on, and the test run worked for a short while before she fell off again when she pulled the string the wrong way.

_Note to self: find a way to stay onto the saddle. _She dusted herself off as she got up.

Toothless was looking disappointed as he gazed at his tailfin.

Lenora gently rubbed his cheek. "Don't fret, Toothless. We'll get this right," she said, soothingly. "I won't quit. Will you?"

Toothless shook his head and then looked cheered up.

"I'll get some more codfish when it's dinnertime. So, in the meantime, what do you want to do?" she asked.

This made Toothless all excited and eager like a puppy.

They ended up playing fetch the stuck, tag and hide-and-seek for the new few hours until late afternoon, when Lenora had to get them some dinner. She caught some more codfish from the lake, which they split. Toothless even got a fire going so Lenora could actually cook hers.

Worn out from the day's activities, Lenora ended up falling asleep against Toothless' side. The dragon didn't appear to mind her sleeping there, as he folded his wings around her like a blanket and he was quite warm and soft.

Lenora eventually woke up when Toothless started nudging her and made an anxious noise.

"Wha…Toothless, I was sound asleep," said Lenora, annoyed, as she rubbed her eyes. "What did you wake me for?" Then she saw it was well after dark, and judging from the moon's position, it was midnight. "Oh, crap! I've got to go. Gobber's probably going out his mind right now!" Granted, she disappeared on her own frequently, but she'd never been gone so long before. "Thanks for waking me, bud. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Toothless purred before nodding his head at her as she fled from the cove.

_Toothless didn't want me to go, but he didn't want me to be missed by the others. He really cares about me, which is probably more than I deserve, considering what I did to him_

She ran through the forest, thankful it was a clear night so she could see where she was going, but then she fell as she accidentally ran into someone.

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

"Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry. I—Aster?" said Lenora, surprised, as she helped him up. "What're you doing here?"

The young blond Viking was carrying a lantern and looking both pleased and annoyed as he allowed her to help him up.

"I was looking for you, actually," said Aster. "When you didn't show up for dinner, Gobber got worried and I volunteered to look for you. Come on, I'll walk you back. But I want an explanation. Where've you been? No one's seen you since you fought the Zippleback this morning."

"I know and I'm sorry," she said, feeling ashamed she'd worried Gobber so much. "I finished up some work in the forge and then came out here, and I fell asleep after I ate."

Aster didn't look surprised as he shook his head. "Next time, be a little more careful."

"I will, I will," she promised.

They soon arrived at her house, where Gobber was waiting.

After assuring her godfather that she was perfectly fine and had just lost track of the time after she fell asleep in the forest, she waited until he was asleep, after which, she was able to head back to the forge where she set to work on a strap and harness to add to the saddle

The next morning, after Toothless had his breakfast, they had another test flight. It worked well enough, but the steering system needed some work. This proved to be the case when they crashed, yet again. This time, they didn't land in the cove or the lake, but in a large field of sweet-smelling tall grass, which was quite soft. Lenora had to searching for her friend, as they'd gotten separated in the tall grass.

"Toothless, you okay?" she called out.

But Toothless was more than fine when she found him. In fact, he was purring and moaning in contentment as he rolled around in the ground.

"Oh, you like this, huh?" she said, chuckling.

Her only reply was a satisfied moan.

Not wishing to disturb him, she cut large quantities of the grass and filled her spare basket with it while she let him roll around for two hours until they had to head back.

Toothless was returned to the cove, but he had plenty of the grass or dragonmint (A/N: 'catmint' is another word for 'catnip' and I thought it fit better.) as Lenora decided to call it, to keep him busy while she was gone at the dragon training.

They were fighting the Gronckle again. Lenora was alone with Aster as the others got themselves booted out of the ring again.

Wanting to test her theory, Lenora had brought some blades of the dragonmint Toothless had loved so much. When the Gronckle came right at her, she held out the dragonmint right at its nose. The Gronckle caught the smell of the plant and the beast immediately took to it. It fell to its knees in joy, before Lenora rubbed its nose with it, making it fall to its side in contentment.

As a result, for the first time in her life, Lenora wasn't alone when she left the ring. She was crossing the bridge that went back to the forge, when someone called out for her.

"Hey, Lenora, wait up!" said Fishlegs. "We want to talk to you!"

Lenora stopped walking and stared in confusion. "You do? What about?" And why, for that matter? They hardly even wanted to talk to her, unless they were going to insult her. But much to her surprise, they were all smiling at her and acting like they were old friends.

"You were so amazing in the ring, today!" said Ruffnut.

"You took down that Gronckle like it was nothing!" said Tuffnut.

"I've never seen a Gronckle do that," said Snotlout, smiling. "I have to admit it, you're getting pretty amazing in the ring, cousin."

"You really did do great today," said Aster.

Lenora blushed and tried to act casual. "It was nothing. I just did what I had to," she said. It wasn't a lie. She had done just that.

She ended up talking to them and answering their questions as best she could until she got to the forge and got them to leave as she was feeling slightly uncomfortable with all the attention she was getting. But if it continued, she'd probably grow accustomed to it in time.

After several hours in the forge, it soon became clear that her modifications for Toothless' saddle would take more than just one day. She was able to modify her jacket with the necessary adornments, but the rest would take a while.

It was getting late in the afternoon, and Toothless was missing her by now, so she went down to the cover without her gear, only to find that instead of Toothless laying contentedly in the dragonmint she'd left him, he was crawling around on his back, and looking quite uncomfortable.

"Toothless, I'm back!" she called out.

He immediately ran over to her and beckoned to his back where his saddle was.

"What's wrong, Toothless? Got a bad itch you can't reach?" she asked.

Toothless let out a pitiful moan and nodded.

Lenora took off his saddle and then began scratching his itchy spots, smiling as Toothless purred in contentment to the point where he lifted up leg and seemed to sink into the movement of her fingernails.

"I'm _definitely _going to scratch you more often if this is how happy it makes you," she said. She would do anything for Toothless. He was her best friend. What surprised her, however, was what he did when she managed to scratch just the right spot under his chin. She hit just the right spot, and then he plunked down, asleep.

Lenora chuckled as she sat against Toothless' side. "If I'd known how to do that before, I could've gotten your saddle on earlier without any hassle." He was asleep, but she knew he was listening. She could always talk to him, and it was a good thing, as it seemed like she had one secret after another lately. "We have to go up against the Nadder again tomorrow. I'm a little nervous after what happened the last time." She sighed. "I can probably use that same spot I just used on you, but what if it doesn't work? What if something happens?"

Toothless let out a soft grunt and curled his tail and left wing around her, as if saying, "_If anything happens, I'll take care of you._"

"I know you'll keep me safe if I need you to. But are you sure I can do this?" she asked.

Toothless opened one eye and gave her a look that said, "_Of course I'm sure, silly._"

She smiled as she hugged him. "Thanks, buddy." She scratched his ear before getting up. "You can go back to sleep. I have to get back to the village. I'll be back later."

Toothless just yawned before going back to sleep.

When dragon training began the next day, unlike before, Lenora felt prepared for Nadder this time. She knew she could handle it.

"Hey, Lenora," said Aster, before they entered the ring. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure," she said.

He took a deep breath. "Okay, look, last time we fought the Nadder, it was practically obsessed with you. If it does that again, just get behind me and I'll protect you."

Lenora sighed, both flattered and just a teeny-bit annoyed by his protectiveness. "Aster, that's really sweet of you, but honestly, I can handle myself against the Nadder this time." She smiled. "But you'll probably kick my butt with it, like before."

Aster laughed. "We'll see about that. Good luck to you."

"You too."

But Lenora proved she could handle herself against the Nadder this time. Before long, she and Aster were the only ones fighting it, and Aster had to retrieve his axe after a fruitless attempt to stop the blue-scaled beast's rampage towards Lenora as he yelled for her to run.

Lenora then found herself cornered by the Nadder, which was singling her out again, but this time, it smelled the fish and Toothless' scent on her, stopping its attack as Aster let out a battle cry and was about to hit the dragon, but Lenora acted quickly and rubbed the Nadder's chin in the same spot as she had with Toothless, and it immediately fell asleep, just like Toothless had.

Aster's jaw dropped and he stared at her in confusion. "What the heck did you do?" he demanded. "It just fell asleep!"

Lenora gave a sheepish smile. "I told you I could handle myself this time."

Aster put his axe down and shook his head. "Lenora, you never cease to amaze me."

"I aim to please," she said, half-joking. She was trying to please her people, but at the same time, just get out of the ring alive. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to finish at the forge and then I'm going to get some dinner."

"Can I join you?" he blurted out.

Lenora stared. "Join me? At the forge or dinner?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aster bit his lip. "Both, actually," he confessed.

"Are you asking me out?" she asked, surprised.

"Are you saying yes?" asked Aster, as he turned red.

Lenora giggled before nodding. How could she possibly say no to him? "Yes, the answer's yes. Let's go before I get swarmed."

They managed to evade the others and get to the forge without any problems. Lenora took him into her workstation, and after putting on her gloves and apron, started working. She was silently grateful none of her artwork of Aster and Toothless was out. She would've died of embarrassment or worse, been forced to confess about her secret activities.

Thankfully, she was able to work on Toothless' flying system without Aster getting suspicious, by telling him that it was an unfinished piece of work and she wouldn't tell him what it was until she was done with it. As it turned out, Aster had a lot of questions about the forge, having always been slightly interested in it since he was a boy. He also found her artwork, blueprints and other projects very fascinating.

Everything went smoothly, until Aster saw the cloth covering one of Lenora's metal work projects, she'd made long ago.

"What's this?" he asked.

"What's what?" asked Lenora, as she hung up her apron. She tensed when she saw what he was asking about. "Ack! No, don't. That's—"

But the black cloth was off the project, before she could stop him.

"Whoa," gasped Aster. "Is this your mom?"

Lenora nodded. Underneath the black cloth was an amazingly accurate metal bust of Val, Lenora's mother and Stoick's late wife. "I made that when I was fifteen. It was on my Mom's birthday. I never showed it to anyone before now."

How could she have shown anyone? Stoick had a hard enough talking about Val, and Val's death had deeply shaken the entire village. Making the bust had been part of Lenora's way of grieving and yet keeping her mother close.

"It's beautiful," said Aster, as he reverently covered the bust again.

Lenora nodded again, not daring to speak as tears had come to her eyes as she thought of Val.

Aster sighed and then turned to her. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You've already asked me several in the last two hours, but yes, you may another."

He smiled a little at this and then looked serious.

"Why are you in dragon training?" he blurted out. "Don't get me wrong, you've been doing great, but dragon slaying doesn't really seem to be your thing. I mean, look at all you've accomplished in here. Why do you want to be a dragon slayer so badly?"

Lenora sighed. _How do I explain this? How can I make his understand? Would he really be saying all of this if he knew the truth about what I've been doing? Would he have even asked me out if I told him the truth?_

Aloud she said, "I don't want to be a dragon slayer, not really," she confessed. "At first, I was only trying so hard to be one because I thought it would make my dad proud of me for once. Fighting dragons is everything around here, and I already had enough problems fitting in, that I didn't think I could tell Dad about what I get up to in here. But then I decided to finally abide by Dad's wishes and not be a fighter, and I tried telling Dad this the night he left, but he never listens. He'd changed his mind and stuck me in training. So, now I'm just trying my best to do well in the ring and not killed while trying to make Dad happy because I don't want to be Lenora the Useless for once."

Aster looked sympathetic as he placed his hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin. "You're not Useless, Lenora. You're Use_ful_. You'll make your dad proud someday, I know it. Let's not forget whose axe has been working great for me and who saved my butt the first day in dragon training."

This brought a smile to her face. "Thanks, Aster. That means a lot to me."

He smiled back, and then stepped back. "I have to go wash up, but I'll meet you in the Main Hall in half an hour, okay?"

She nodded and then they went their separate ways.

While Aster went to wash up, Lenora headed to the Main Hall to wait for him. She could hardly contain her excitement, despite her previous feelings. She was actually going on a date with Aster. If things worked out, maybe she could tell him how she felt.

Upon her arrival, everyone immediately surrounded her, all of her fellow trainees, and even most of the adult Vikings who'd seen her performances in the ring. They were asking her questions about how she was taking down the dragons, flattering her with compliments, requests for her to sit at certain tables, and everyday sort of chatter she didn't usually have with the other villagers. Even more surprising was Tuffnut and Snotlout's behavior.

"Lenora, care to join me for dinner?" asked Tuffnut, flexing his muscles.

"I'm flattered, really I am, but I have other dinner plans tonight, Tuffnut," said Lenora, politely.

"Other plans?" asked Ruffnut, looking interested, like this was juicy gossip.

"Who with?" asked Fishlegs.

Before Lenora could speak, Aster came up from behind her and said, "Lenora made plans with me tonight. So, if you'll please excuse us…"

Much to Lenora's surprise, Snotlout actually began clearing a way for them. "Make way! Make way! Let them be, guys! My warrior cousin and her Viking protector want to eat in peace, so let them!" He smiled at Aster and Lenora as he beckoned to an empty table where two plates of food and drink and candles were resting. "All ready, guys. Enjoy."

Lenora was speechless and red as a tomato as she sat down and everyone gave her and Aster some privacy. _Thor Almighty, what on earth has happened to my cousin? What's with everyone else, for that matter? Is this just because of how Aster and I've been doing in the ring? _

She glanced at Aster and saw he felt the same way she did. But neither of them said a word on the matter, and instead they talked of other things as they ate dinner and enjoyed one another's company until the evening came to an end and they went to their separate houses to get some rest.

**XXX**

Lenora left early the next morning to see Toothless.

The work still wasn't done, but she thought she could finish the rest of it outside. And what better way to do it, than with her best friend in the whole world? Toothless was asleep, but he woke up when he heard Lenora come in and he smelled his breakfast.

"Hey, Toothless," she said, as he nuzzled her hand. "I got past the Nadder just fine. She has the same itchy spot that you do. It worked like a charm."

Toothless purred and then his ears perked up when he saw the things she was carrying. He gave her a hopeful look.

"Sorry, but it's not finished yet," she said, apologetically. "But I can probably finish it up here and then we'll test it out tomorrow. I thought I'd do it here instead of at the forge. So, if you fall asleep while I ramble on as I work, I won't be offended."

Toothless grunted and gave her a look that said, "_Now, why would I do that? That's just rude._"

She chuckled and started working and talking as Toothless ate his breakfast.

"I'm being noticed, buddy. People are actually wanting to be with me now, instead of scowling at me or whatever," said Lenora. "I kind of like it, but at the same time, I'm still a little uncomfortable with because I'm not used to so much attention. But then again, I'll have to get used to it if I decide to become Cheiftess instead of having Snotlout take the job, won't I?"

Toothless gurgled and nodded.

"But to be honest, with things the way they are right now, I don't think I'll become Chieftess. How can I be leader of a tribe that's sworn to fight dragons when my best friend is a dragon that I'm harboring and helping to fly again?"

Toothless shrugged. He didn't know either.

Lenora smiled. "But on a happier note, Aster asked me out after training, yesterday. He actually came with me to the forge and we had dinner together. Somehow, everyone seemed to know what was going to happen because Snotlout made sure there was a table for two ready for us," said Lenora, not noticing Toothless' growl. "Aster's so amazing. He's—hey!"

She was cut off when Toothless suddenly got up, grabbed her braid with his mouth and after gently dragging her away from her work; he pulled her close with his front legs and wings around her.

"Toothless, let go of my hair!" said Lenora, as she gently pulled her braid out of the black dragon's mouth. "What's with you? You were fine until I mentioned my date, then—" She cut herself off as she raised an eyebrow. "You're not jealous of Aster, are you?"

Toothless pretended to look innocent, but Lenora had seen through him.

"You _are _jealous!" she said, astonished. She sighed in exasperation. "Toothless, you've got nothing to be jealous of. Nothing is going to come in between you and me, not ever. You're my first real friend and you're always going to come first. I'm always going to be _your _human, no matter what."

Toothless let out a soft croon as she rubbed his cheek and gave her a questioning look.

"Yes, I've been in love with him my entire life, but we're just friends for right and we've only had one date. There's no guarantee anything's going to happen to between us. My dad likes him, but I don't know how long that'll last. Regardless of everything else, I'm still his little girl, which means he'll chase off any menfolk with that hammer of his."

It was the wrong thing to say as Toothless, while he disliked Stoick from everything Lenora had told him about her father, Toothless seemed to agree with Stoick on this matter, however, as he let out an approving snort.

Lenora smiled, in spite of herself. "You're sweet, you know that? But you don't need to worry so much. Aster's a proper Viking, but he's also a gentleman. Would it make you feel better if I said you could throw Aster into the lake if he ever hurt me?"

Toothless let out an approving nod and purred, making her laugh.

"Right, now that we've got that settled, can you let me out? I can't finish your harness and stuff from in here," said Lenora.

Toothless nodded and let her out.

She was able to finish it after another hour, but before she left, she polished up her hammer and then fiddled with it for a few moments. She caught the sunlight on it and made a tiny little "fairy light" cross the cove.

Toothless saw the light, and watched it with keen interest before chasing after it, trying to catch the tiny little light that always evaded him. It was all quite amusing, and Lenora decided she'd play with him like that more often. It was too cute.

In dragon training later that day, Lenora's little "fairy light" trick was put to good use.

"Meet the Terrible Terror!" said Gobber, as after the cage was opened.

One would think that a dragon with such a name would be a big, ferocious beast. But, to the trainees' surprise, the "Terrible Terror" was the size of a small cat.

"Ha!" scoffed Tuffnut. "It's like the size of me—OUCH! GET IT OFF!"

He was cut off when the Terror suddenly leapt up, knocked him down and started gently chewing on his nose.

While the others stood back of the little reptile, Lenora stepped forward and didn't make a single sound as she caught the sunlight on a shiny metal part of her shield and made another fairy light, which caught the Terror's attention.

The Terror immediately got off Tuffnut's face and chased the light around in a circle, making happy little noises, and chased the light back into his cage before Lenora closed the door.

"Wow. She's better than you ever were," said Tuffnut, to Aster.

Lenora just gave a tiny smile before bolting as Aster looked both annoyed and pleased at the same time, if that was even possible and she didn't feel up to being swarmed again.

**XXX**

The trainees were given the next two days off to prepare for third-to-last match in the arena. And everyone was taking full advantage of it.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were practicing their fighting skills, Snotlout was working out, and Fishlegs was off at the library, reading more on dragon lore in hopes of figuring out how Lenora was taking down the dragons so easily.

_Somehow, I don't think Fishlegs is going to find anything in the library, _thought Aster. He was in the woods, practicing his axe swing, and was unable to get his mind off Lenora.

How was she suddenly doing so well in the ring? Granted she'd saved his life from the Gronckle before, but how was she taking down the others so easily without the use of a weapon? Why had that Zippleback been so afraid of her?

None of it made any sense and he was hating himself for feeling as he was. He _was _happy for her success. She was doing wonderfully. Odin alone knew how much she deserved this success, after trying so hard just to make her dad proud. But still, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous she was probably going to be first place in Dragon Training, and not him. But the truth was, he only wanted to win because it was a rite of passage, something that every Viking warrior did.

He sighed to himself as he stopped for a moment, not quite sure what to think. Lenora was proving to be a great fighter, true, but she didn't belong in the ring. She was amazing in her own ways. Being different and trying to fit in shouldn't have made her the village jester. He winced as he thought back to the name people used to call her and wished he'd seen her pains sooner. She wasn't useless, she was special. It was a completely different thing.

_Why can't I get her out of my head? She's going to be Chieftess of the Tribe one day. Stoick would kill any man that came within five feet of her. Is right for me to feel this way about her? _But was it even more wrong to deny what his heart was feeling for Stoick's daughter? _I care about her, I do, more than I'd dare admit._

Groaning in frustration, he was about to resume practicing when he heard a noise. He immediately grabbed his axe, prepared to defend him if he had to, only to stop when a yell hit his ears and he saw who it was.

"Whoa, Aster, jeez!" said Lenora, looking startled. "It's just me."

Aster put down his axe. "Sorry about that. You startled me." He frowned at the large bundle under her right arm she was carrying and the basket of fish slung on her left shoulder. "What's all that stuff for and what's with the fish?"

"Uh, this bundle's nothing you need to be concerned about," said Lenora, not meeting his eyes. "And the fish is for me."

_It's probably the project she was working on. But if she's finished, why won't she tell me what it is? She can't be serious about the fish. Not even Stoick or Gobber could eat that much, and there're huge. _

"Where're you headed, then?" he asked.

"Oh, um, just around," she said, shrugging.

"Mind if I come?" he asked. He wanted to talk to her more and maybe spend a little time with her.

Lenora sighed. "Actually, I'm running late for something and I need to go by myself. But we could always meet up later. I'll see you around, Aster."

Aster's face fell, but before he could say anything, she'd disappeared deep within the forest and he soon lost track of her, but not before he heard her say, "I hope Toothless won't be too mad if he smells Aster's scent on me. He's already going to throw him into the lake if anything happens."

Aster was deeply confused and startled by this. Toothless? Who on earth was Toothless? No one in Berk, that was for sure. What kind of a name was _Toothless_ anyway?And what kind of a guy would notice scents, much less be strong enough to throw another person into a lake?

Aster tightly clenched his axe. Granted, they'd only had one date, but did he have competition for Lenora's affections? Was Toothless her boyfriend? If he was, why didn't he make an appearance in the village? What was Lenora hiding?

_That does it! I'm going to find out what's going on, so help me Odin! _If Toothless, whoever he was, made her happy, he'd let her go. If he did anything, however, Aster would pound him.

**XXX**

Lenora ran away as quickly as she could, feeling guilty for fleeing as she had, but at the same time, relieved that she hadn't been followed. She heaved a sigh of relief.

"I hope Toothless won't be too mad if he smells Aster's scent on me. He's already going to throw him into the lake if anything happens," she muttered. "I hate lying to him like that, but it's not like I can just tell him about Toothless right now, can I?"

It was too big of a risk right now. Until she could get Toothless flying, he was a downed dragon and therefore a dead one without her help. She pushed that aside. For the time being, she had work to do, and a friend who needed her help.

While Toothless was eating his breakfast, Lenora was busy attaching the final pieces of his harness and saddle, along with her special system she'd made. It had taken hours to come up with and days to make, but it would be worth it, once they were up in the air.

"How's that, Toothless? Does it fit all right?" she asked.

Toothless nodded.

"Okay, good. Now, since your tail fin needs to go at certain positions at just the right time for you to fly right, and since we still need to work that out, I thought we'd do some tests first," she said, as she pulled out some rope. "It's pretty windy today, so we'll attach ourselves to a tree stump and go from there. Once we know what to do, we'll be able to fly all we want. Does that sound good?"

Toothless let out an excited purr as he nodded.

They managed to climb their way out of the cove and get to where they needed to without being seen. After that, they attached themselves to a broken stump, high up on a cliff where the wind was the strongest.

They spent the next several hours testing Toothless' prosthetic tailfin and the flying system. Lenora had to press down on the stirrup in just the right way at just the right time. Whenever they figured out a position, they'd stop their tests for a moment, at which point, Lenora would draw and number the positions on a piece of paper she attached to Toothless' saddle. She would use that until she had it all memorized.

It was all going quite well until a gust of wind was so strong that it snapped the rope and sent them both flying backwards into the grassy field behind them.

"Okay, let's not do that again," said Lenora. She let out a startled yelp, as Toothless rose up and took her with him. She let out a groan when she saw she was stuck to Toothless' saddle and she didn't have her tools with her this time to cut herself free. "Ah, crap. Well, Toothless, it looks like we're stuck until I can get this off and that won't be until after dark. All my tools are at Gobber's forge." This was going to be a pain.

Toothless looked as displeased as she was and let out an annoyed sound.

"We'll just have to do the best we can for now," said Lenora. "It won't be so bad, you'll see. We'll sneak into the village and once we get to my workstation, I can get us free. We'll just have to make sure no one sees you. Your scales are black, so you'll blend in perfectly. And whatever you do, don't take any of the livestock or anything."

Toothless let out a soft grunt and then nodded.

As soon as it was dark, Lenora and Toothless snuck into the village.

They were able to do it quietly and without being seen, much to Lenora's relief. If anyone saw the Chief's daughter attached to a Night Fury, there'd be trouble. She was able to lead her friend through the village and into Gobber's forge. Toothless found it all quite interesting, having never been inside the village before, and he kept poking his nose into everything until Lenora pulled him away.

Once they were at her workstation, Lenora began trying to undo the dratted knot that kept them attached. Unfortunately, she wasn't having much success, and Toothless has knocked over a pot, and the noise didn't go unnoticed.

"Lenora? Are you in there?"

Lenora's heart skipped a beat. "Ah crap, Aster!" she whispered.

Toothless' ears immediately perked up at the mention of Aster and a predatory look crossed his face as he tried to go around to face the young Viking boy to give him a piece of his mind.

"Lenora?" said Aster.

Lenora got herself unstuck at this point, but she grabbed Toothless' saddle and pulled him back. "Toothless, no!" she hissed. "If he sees you, he'll tell the entire village and we'll be in so much trouble! I know you don't like him, but please, just stay put until we can leave!"

Toothless looked disgruntled, but he let out a soft huff, which meant he'd do as she asked.

"Thank you," she whispered. She quickly went to the entrance and stood in front of Aster. "Aster, hey. Hi. What're you doing here? Do you need something?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do. I need to talk to you," said Aster. "You were acting really strange in the woods today and I'm concerned for you. What's going on?"

Lenora blinked. He was actually really concerned for her? Granted, they'd become friends over the past few weeks and had had one date, but she didn't think he'd feel like this for her.

"Nothing's going on," she lied.

"Yeah, right," said Aster. "Does this have anything to do with your boyfriend?"

Lenora frowned in confusion. "Boyfriend?" she repeated. "What boyfriend?"

"Don't lie to me. I heard you mention him earlier. You know, your boyfriend, Toothless. The one you ran off to meet this morning in the woods," he said, folding his arms across his chest.

"What? Oh, Aster!" said Lenora, immediately understanding. She had to try hard not to laugh at the thought of Toothless as her boyfriend. "Toothless is not my boyfriend. He's just a friend, that's it." Was that a hint of relief she saw cross his face, or was she imagining things? She cut him off just as he opened his mouth to speak. "Look, you probably have more questions to ask me, and I'm sorry, but they're going to have to wait until later. I've got to go. I'm tired and Gobber will be worried about me if I don't head home soon."

"Okay, fine, but I want answers later. Deal?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. Good-night," she said, quickly.

Quick as she could, she got back into the forge and swiftly took off on Toothless' back before Aster spotted them.

Once they were safe in the cove, she heaved a sigh of relief. "Odin, that was way too close!" she exclaimed. "We're so lucky he didn't spot you. He's a great guy, and he seems to like all the stuff I get up to at the forge, but who knows what he would've done if he'd seen you?"

Toothless let out a snort and gave her a look.

"Oh, don't be like that! He's not as bad as you think he is. And anyway, we should rest up for tomorrow. We're going to get you flying at last," said Lenora, as she rubbed her friend's chin. She then yawned. "Hey, can I stay with you tonight? I left Gobber a note this morning saying I'd probably be out until training the day after tomorrow, so he won't notice if I'm not there."

Toothless nodded and after warming up a place for himself on the ground, he lifted up his wing and beckoned for her to sit with him.

Lenora then curled up against Toothless' side as he folded his wing around her and within a few moments, she was sound asleep, knowing she was safe and warm with Toothless. Dragons were fierce creatures, but they made good pillows, blankets, beds and bodyguards.


	5. Reflection

Reflection

The next day, Stoick and his fleet returned.

The state of the ships was not a pretty one. Stoick's ship was missing half its sail, parts of it were burned and there was a large chunk of wood missing from the port bow. It seemed to reflect Stoick's mood—bad. He still had Lenora's things she'd given him, except the basket of food was emptied as it'd been eaten the first two days.

Gobber met him at the docks and tried to make him feel better. "Well, I trust you found the nest at least?"

"Not even close," growled Stoick.

"Excellent," muttered Gobber.

"I hope you had a little more success than me," said Stoick, as they walked up the path.

Gobber shrugged. "Well, if by success, you mean that your parenting troubles are over, then yes," he said, as a smile crossed his face.

Stoick was both confused and worried by this statement, but before he could ask what Gobber meant, most of the villagers came down looking as happy as clams.

"Congratulations, Stoick! Everyone is so relieved!"

"Out with the old, in with the new, eh?"

"No one will miss that old featherbrain!"

"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!"

Stoick felt quite frightened as he turned to Gobber. "She's gone?" he asked.

Gobber gave him a sly grin. "Most afternoons, and she's been out and about since yesterday, but who can blame her? I mean, the life of a celebrity's very rough. She can barely walk through the village without being swarmed by her new fans."

Fans? His daughter had _fans?_ Stoick stopped walking and looked Gobber in the eyes. "Lenora?"

Gobber nodded as he smiled. "Who would've thought it? She has this way with the beasts. She managed to scare the life out of a Zippleback! She even saved Aster's life in the ring on her first day. And let me tell you, those two have been getting close, lately. Aster even watched her work at the forge and had dinner with her for their date a few days ago. You can imagine the gossip that caused."

Stoick's eyes widened. Could it be true? Could his daughter, be a true and proper Viking and potential dragon slayer at last? He felt a swell of pride.

Gobber laughed when he saw the empty basket Stoick was carrying. "I see someone put their daughter's food to good use. I hope you enjoyed that and the blanket and shield she gave you. She worked hard on those."

Stoick stared. "What?"

"Didn't you know? She made those for you, for your trip," said Gobber. "She spent days making all that. She worries about you when you're away on your hunts for the nest and giving you stuff she made herself makes her worry a little less."

Stoick was shocked. Lenora, his clumsy daughter, had made all these? Granted she was Gobber's apprentice, but still. That settled it. His baby girl had more than proved herself. He'd have to give her something special for her coming-of-age.

**XXX**

Meanwhile, Lenora was away with Toothless.

As they were both eager and excited to finally be up in the air at last, Lenora and Toothless had gotten out and about the first chance they got, forsaking their usual ritual of breakfast and playtime first. After Lenora had gotten herself strapped in, they'd taken off.

At that moment, the sun was out and the wind was strong, and they were flying thousands of feet in the air. So far, it was going smoothly. She trusted Toothless to know what to do, just as much as he trusted her.

"Okay, bud, we're going to take this nice and slow," said Lenora. She glanced at her cheat sheet. "Here were go. Position…three…no, four."

She pushed on the stirrup, causing the prosthetic to turn. Toothless did a graceful turn and then flew a little higher before taking a dive down so low, his wings nearly touched the sea below them. They flew steadily underneath a large rock arch, much to Lenora's delight.

"It worked!" she said, happily, as they went a little higher.

But then they crashed into a large rock.

"Sorry!"

They crashed into another one.

"Sorry, my fault!" she said, wincing.

Toothless then wacked her face with his right ear, telling her to stay focused and fly right.

"Quit that! I said I was sorry!" she said, as she turned to her cheat sheet "I'm on it. Position three!" She yanked on Toothless' harness and she pushed the stirrup.

Toothless then started flying high and high as in higher than the highest cliff high, as Lenora let out a whoop of joy.

"Oh, Toothless, this is amazing!" she cried. "The wind in my—the cheat sheet!" Her cheat sheet started to fly away and to their horror, just as she grabbed the paper, her straps became unhooked and she fell off of Toothless, causing them both to start falling as they needed each other to fly.

Lenora could not hold back the scream that emitted from her throat as Toothless went into a panic, trying to save her. She could see on his face that he was more scared for her than he was for himself. He managed to angle himself and get right under her, which allowed her to reattach herself and stop them from crashing into the ground below.

They took a harsh dive down, and nearly crashed into some more rocks, but then Lenora flung away her cheat sheet as she realized she didn't need it anymore. She just kept her eyes on what was in front of her and instinctively knew what to do, as Toothless stirred them around the obstacles that came their way. They did twists and turns and spins as they flew out over the sea. In that moment, their friendship evolved into something more. They became connected. They had become more than just a human and dragon, they had become one.

Unable to restrain her joy, Lenora let her hair down, enjoying the feel of the wind in her face as she thrust up her arms and cried out, "Yes! We did it, Toothess! We did it!"

Toothless purred before letting out his own cry of joy—a fire ball that Toothless barely managed to dodge in time before it hit them as Lenora was not fire-proof.

Several hours later, they landed on a distant part of the island no one ever went to, except for Terrible Terrors. It was rocky, but it was a great spot for fishing. Lenora was able to catch enough fish for them both and Toothless got a fire going for them so they could have their dinner.

"Help yourself to as much as you want and don't hesitate to tell me if you want more, because you've more than earned it after today," said Lenora, as she roasted her own fish in the fire.

Toothless purred and then nudged her hair, which was out of its braid and in waves down her back, before he made a soft noise.

"You like my hair this way?" she asked.

Toothless nodded.

"Me too. I'd let it down more often, but it's so long and I like it this length, but I work in the forge, so I have to keep it in a braid," said Lenora, as she ran her hand through her silky brown tresses. She was going to put it back in its braid before she went home, but she silently wondered what Aster would think of her hair like this. She hadn't let it down in public since she was three.

Just then, there were a lot of loud screeching sounds. She looked up to see four Terrible Terrors—one yellow-red, another blue, the third dark green, and the fourth a yellowy green—fly in and land near them. Toothless immediately protectively covered his fish pile and growled as Lenora watched the dragons' interactions with interest.

Toothless scared off every one of the Terrors that tried to partake of his fish, but the dark green one got lucky when it took the regurgitated fish head Toothless had given Lenora earlier, but she had politely declined. It was about to take a bite, but the red Terror tried to take it. As a result, the dark green Terror scared it off by firing it at it.

But what was most amusing was when Lenora saw one of Toothless' fish walk on its own. The yellow-green Terror had snuck into the fish pile and was trying to take one of Toothless' fish. But the black dragon just grabbed it and won the brief tug-of-war match against the Terror before swallowing the fish whole and laughing at the Terror.

"Toothless, be nice," said Lenora, half-stern, half-gentle.

But Toothless didn't listen as the yellow-green Terror let out a cute little snarl and then prepared to attack, and was about to fire at Toothless, but Toothless just lazily blew a little fire into the Terror's mouth, causing it to puff up and then land painfully on its head.

"Huh, not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" said Lenora. She smiled and tossed the dazed little thing one of her extra fish. "Here you go."

The yellow-green Terror leapt up, excitedly before licking its lips and quickly swallowing the fish whole, making it content. It then made some soft cooing noises and seemed to smile at her before it nudged her arm and then curled up right by her side and fell asleep, purring.

Lenora was amazed by all of this as she gently stroked the tiny Terror's back. "Everything we know about you guys is wrong."

_This is incredible. There's more to dragons than we could ever hope to understand. They don't attack unless provoked and if we can just appease the dragons and befriend them, we don't have to fight them and we sure as heck don't have to kill them._

For the first time in her life, Lenora felt torn between her duties and loyalties. She wanted to tell everyone of what she knew, but how could she? How could she possibly make them understand what she'd learned by going against everything she'd been taught? Aster had said everyone had to figure out what side they were on, so what side was she on, Berk's or the dragons'? She didn't know anymore.

Sighing, and not wanting to ruin her perfect day, she pushed all that to the back of her mind and turned back to Toothless, who needed his itchy spot scratched after he was done eating. They did a little more flying before Lenora had to return to Berk. She had dragon training tomorrow, something she was not looking forward to, especially after she learned what was going to happen.

Somehow, she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open as she sat at her desk, idly drawing a picture of a Terrible Terror. She was exhausted, both from her excursions with Toothless and being swarmed by the village, who'd been asking her where she had been since yesterday and giving her tips and congratulations for tomorrow's fight.

She put down her pencil and rested her head on her desk, and was nearly asleep when she felt someone shake her shoulder and a voice say, "Lenora?"

Lenora nearly jumped out of her skin. "Dad!" she said, as she clutched her heart and tried to quell her panic, immediately grateful all her papers with Toothless on them, was in her chest at the house. "You're back!" She smiled a little. "Gobber's not here, if you're looking for him, so—"

"I know," he interrupted. "I wasn't looking for your godfather, I was looking for you."

She stared. "You were? Why?"

"You've been keeping secrets."

_Oh, crud. Does he know about Toothless? He can't know! _She tried to act like she didn't know what he was talking about. "I have?" she said, feigning ignorance.

"Just how long did you think you could hide it?" asked Stoick.

"Dad, I don't know what you're—"

"Nothing happens on this island with me hearing about it," interrupted Stoick, sounding firm. He took a seat beside her. "So, let's talk about that dragon and your little projects."

_He knows about Toothless and what I've been doing to help him! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so freaking dead! _ Lenora twisted the ends of her newly done braid as she sighed in defeat. "Oh, heavens, Dad, I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you, I just didn't know how to."

But to her surprise, Stoick started laughing. Confused, but hoping it was a sign she wasn't about to be exiled or worse, she weakly laughed as well. Was he happy about her befriending Toothless and helping him fly? Was this for real?

"So, I take it, you're not upset?" she asked.

Stoick immediately ceased laughing and stared at her incredulously. "What?" he said. "Most of it was surprising, but I was hoping for the rest of this!"

"You were?" she said, even more puzzled than before.

"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait until you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time and mount your first Gronckle head on a spear!" he said, excitedly. He smiled in a way she hadn't seen him smile before in a long time. "What a feeling! You really had me going there for a while, Lenora! All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! No offense."

"None taken," she muttered, trying to not to show how upset she was feeling inside.

_I knew this was too good to be true. Of course he's happy that I'm doing well in the ring. Why did I expect anything less? Simple, I shouldn't have._

"Odin, it was rough! I almost gave up on you, and all the while you were holding out on me! Oh, Thor Almighty!" he went on, sounding pleased. "And why didn't you tell me you were making such fine metalwork in the forge? Or that you were a good cook or seamstress, for that matter? The stuff you gave me before I left really came in handy on my trip."

Lenora smiled, feeling a little happy. Well, at least he was pleased with the rest of her work. That was something at least. "I didn't think it mattered that much. I mean, dragon slaying is everything around here," she said, telling a half-truth.

"Yes, and no," he admitted. "A dragon slayer is highly valuable and the skills necessary are good out there. But what good is a dragon slayer who can't fend for themself? You've done well, Lenora, really well. And I've got an early coming-of-age present for you, to keep you safe in the ring." He reached into his bag and pulled out her mother's helmet.

Lenora gasped as she held it in her hands. "Dad, I can't take this!" she protested.

"Yes, you can," said Stoick, firmly. "Your mother would've wanted you to have it."

Tears immediately came to Lenora's eyes at this and they fell down her cheeks before she could wipe them away.

"Lenora, what's the matter?" asked Stoick, looking concerned.

"Nothing, I…" she sighed. "I'm honored to have this, but I just…I miss Mom so much, Dad."

Stoick's face softened before he gently wiped away her tears. "I know. I miss her too. But I know she'd be so proud of you right now if she were here. You should wear this helmet proudly in the ring tomorrow. You deserve to have this. You've upheld your end of the deal."

She nodded.

"So, now that you've done so well. We finally have something to talk about. Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" he asked.

For a moment, Lenora was about to tell him everything—about Toothless, her projects, how she felt regarding certain matters, the business with Aster—everything, but in that one moment, she lost the ability to do so. She couldn't tell him. He was so excited about her possibly killing a dragon, that she knew she couldn't tell him that her best friend _was_ a dragon.

Instead, she said, "No, there's nothing." She yawned. "I think I'd better some sleep."

"Yes, you'd better," said Stoick, in agreement. "Come on, I'll take you home."

Lenora said nothing and just nodded as she followed her father up to the house and went to bed, not quite sure what to think.

Two hours later, Stoick was asleep, judging from the faint sound of him snoring downstairs. But Lenora was wide-awake. Lenora tried, but she just couldn't sleep. She was keeping so much bottled inside, it was tearing her apart. She needed to talk to someone. She needed her friend.

Quickly she got dressed and wrote out a note saying she'd gone for a walk but would be back for dragon training, just in case Stoick noticed that she was missing. She then ran down the cove, not needing a lantern as she knew the way, even in the dark.

Toothless was curled up, asleep. But he woke up when Lernora gently shook his shoulder. He yawned as he slowly blinked opened his eyes before gazing at her in confusion and surprise.

"Hey, I'm sorry to wake you, Toothless, but I need to talk and I didn't know where else to go or who to go to," she said, sounding both apologetic and distressed.

Toothless immediately seemed more awake at the distress in her voice. He lifted his wing and beckoned for her to sit with him, which she did.

She rested against his warm stomach and was soothed by the sound of his heartbeat before she started talking. "It's my dad. He came home a few hours ago. He doesn't know how, but he knows I'm doing well in the ring. He's finally proud of me. He gave me Mom's helmet and everything. He said she'd be proud of me too. But, proud of me for what? For lying to the entire village and committing treason by befriending a dragon and helping it fly again? No offense, Toothless."

Toothless shook his head and grunted, saying no offense was taken.

"And you know what the really crazy thing is? My mom probably would've liked you. She fought dragons, yes, but only when necessary as she didn't really like violence and she was the heart of the village. She even thought I was going to become something great when I was born," said Lenora. She glanced at the starry sky above her. "I don't know what she'd think of me at this moment, but I do know that I wish she was here right now." _She'd know what to do. She always knew._

Toothless let out a soft moan as he nuzzled the back of her neck.

She snuggled in closer to him. "I'm sorry that I crippled you, but I'm not sorry I met you. You and I are more alike than we think, buddy. We're both scared, trying to do what's right for our people and ourselves, and yet we never quite fit in, do we?" It was startling when one thought about just how much a human girl and a dragon had in common, and yet they were supposed to be worst enemies.

Toothless shook his head.

"I don't know…" She sighed. "I don't suppose you ever had family problems like this, did you?"

Toothless shook his head again.

"Well, at least you're a good listener and you have good advice." She looked down. "All my life, my dad's been my hero. But not because he's a dragon slayer, but because he's strong, he does what he thinks is right, he helps those who need it and no matter what, I know he'll protect me if I'm in danger." She bit her lip. "I've always wanted my dad's approval, but now it seems like it's come at too high a price. He's only happy because he doesn't know the truth. For so many years, I've wanted a really close relationship with him, to be able to talk with each other and listen. When he was finally willing to listen to me for once, I realized that I couldn't tell him anything about what's been going on the past few weeks or anything else because he wouldn't understand with his current state of mind."

Toothless let out a sympathetic moan and then beckoned for her to continue.

"Tomorrow is the last fight of training before the Elder picks the best fighter to kill the Monstrous Nightmare, and it's down between Aster and me," she confessed. "Toothless, what am I supposed to do? If I let Aster win, Dad will be disappointed in me again. But if I don't take down the Gronckle tomorrow in the ways I know how and win the fight, the dragon will probably either kill me or worse, we'll probably be caught. I'll be worse than Useless, I'll be the Outcast."

Toothless looked upset, but he shrugged, as he didn't know what to do either.

"I'm not even sure I know who I am anymore," she murmured.

Lenora then rose up and looked at her reflection in the lake's waters, which she could just barely make out in the moonlight. She'd changed in the last few weeks. You could see it in her eyes.

Berk's villagers had once seen a klutzy rejected young child, now they saw a strong Viking woman. But neither of those images were who she really was. No one knew the truth, not Stoick, or Aster or even Gobber. No one knew, except for Toothless and perhaps herself. But exactly who and what was she? So much was depending on her to succeed in the ring and one day, unless she chose to not accept it, she would become leader of the tribe. But how could she do any of that while being true to herself? She couldn't, could she?

_Gobber was right; I never should've pretended I was anything but myself. All of this is just the result of secrets and lies. No one knows anything about me, except for Toothless and maybe Gobber._

Softly, she began to sing.

"_Look at me,  
>I will never pass for a perfect warrior, or a perfect daughter<br>Can it be, I'm not meant to play this part?  
>Now I see that if I were truly to be myself,<em>

_I would break my father's heart.  
>Who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?<br>Why is my reflection someone I don't know?  
>Who is that perfect warrior? It's not me, though I've tried<br>When will my reflection show who I am inside?_

_How I pray, that a time will come I can free myself, from his expectations  
>On that day, I'll discover someway to be myself, and to make my father proud<br>He wants a Viking woman, no one knows who I am  
>Must there be a secret me I'm forced to hide?<br>Must I pretend that I'm someone else, for all time?  
>When will my reflection show who I am inside?<br>When will my reflection show who I am inside?_"

Lenora was unable to restrain her tears at this point.

Toothless let out a soft croon as he then wrapped himself around her, granting Lenora the much-needed solace before she then hugged the dragon's neck, as she cried into his shoulder, while silently enjoying his comfort and wishing she could stay there with him forever.

"Who am I, Toothless? What am I?" she asked.

Toothless made a soft noise and gently licked her face. It was his way of saying, "_You're my best friend, my rider and I'll always protect you._"

"Thanks, Toothless," she murmured. She snuggled closer in his protective embrace. "Whatever the outcome is tomorrow, at least I'll always have you. And thank heavens for that, because I think you're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love you, buddy."

Toothless purred and nuzzled her, as if he was telling her that he loved her too, before they soon fell asleep, keeping each other close and safe.


	6. Romantic Flight

Romantic Flight

Dragon Training was proving to be more brutal than usual. It was just Lenora and Aster today and he was fighting harder than ever, there were hurdles in the arena and the Gronckle seemed to be in a particularly bad mood. Aster and Lenora were both exhausted, sweaty and covered in ash and soot. Worse still, there were more spectators this time, including Stoick, who was expecting great things from Lenora after she'd done so well in the other fights. What a day to celebrate her coming-of-age!

Lenora was hiding behind one of the hurdles as the Gronckle flew by her. Neither she nor Aster had been able to take down the Gronckle yet, and then he suddenly came in beside her.

"You okay?" asked Aster.

"I'm fine," she said. "Between you and me, I hope you win this thing." She really, honestly did want him to win.

Aster didn't reply as he got back out into the fight.

Lenora rose up and gave a weak smile to her father, who was looking on her with such pride and encouragement.

She turned around and got back into the fight. Aster wasn't in sight yet, and the Gronckle was headed right for her. Despite her desire for Aster to win, she knew what she had to do. There was no time and no other way. She had to take down the beast herself.

_Aster, forgive me. _

She took down the Gronckle by scratching its itchy spot under its chin, just as Aster came running towards them while giving off a battle cry. She gave a sheepish smile as Aster stared at her, and the Gronckle, who was lying on the ground asleep with its tongue sticking out, and then suddenly he started yelling in a language she didn't speak.

_Great, now I've made the only guy who's ever asked me out mad_.

Lenora was snapped out of her thoughts when she suddenly noticed all the cheering. Feeling quite uncomfortable, she decided to leave the arena.

"So, later," she said. She tried to walk away, only for Gobber to grab the back of her shirt with his large hook.

"Not so fast, lass," he chuckled.

"Gobber, let me go," she said, as she got herself unhooked. "I'm late for—"

"Late?" interrupted Aster, coming up behind her. He had a dangerous look in his eyes. "Late for what, exactly?"

Before she could reply, the cheering had suddenly ceased and Soick's voice rang out loudly through the arena.

"Quiet down!" said Stoick, loudly. "The Elder has decided."

_Please, don't pick me. Please don't pick me. Please don't pick me_, she silently begged.

But her pleads went unanswered as when Gobber held his hook over Aster, the Elder frowned and shook her head no. But when Gobber pointed to Lenora with his hand, the Elder smiled and nodded yes. Lenora was the winner.

"You've done it, Lenora!" cried Gobber, in joy. "You get to kill the dragon!"

Lenora fought back a wince and faked a smile as everyone burst out cheering and applauding her for her success. She even heard Stoick cheer out, "That's my girl!" as the other trainees came in and she was lifted onto Fishlegs' shoulders and she pretended to be all excited and happy.

This was supposed to be a moment of triumph, something that Lenora had worked to accomplish for so many years and had wanted so long. And yet, it felt completely wrong as she knew she'd gotten her way through the Dragon Training by tricks and lies. Her father was finally really proud of her, but at what cost? Her integrity?

She didn't know what to think as she reluctantly took part in her coming-of-age feast, where she faked smiles and happiness to please everyone else. As soon as she got the chance, she left the village and gathered what she needed because she was so…

"Leaving! We're leaving!" said Lenora, as she walked through the cove. She had Toothless' basket of food and some extra supplies. She didn't see Toothless, but she knew he was around. He was like her shadow. She was done. She was done pretending and she was done with the lies. She couldn't kill the dragon tomorrow and she couldn't tell everyone the truth, so she was going to do the only thing that she could do: she was going to leave. Better to leave in self-imposed exile, rather than have Stoick disown her or worse. "Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation forever." Maybe one day she'd return, but for now, she just had to get out of Berk.

She knelt down and opened the basket of fish, knowing the scent would bring Toothless to her. Her braid came undone when the loose twine fell out, making her sigh as she picked up the twine and was about to redo her braid, when she stood up and then she was shocked to see a certain someone on the rock in front of her, with a newly sharpened axe.

"Ah! What the—? Aster!" she said, startled. "What're you doing here? How did you find this place or me, for that matter?"

"I followed you after you left," he said, as he got off the rock. He sighed. "Look, Lenora, I'm sorry to impose on you like this, but we need to talk, now. What is going on? Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy for you, but how are you suddenly doing so well in the ring? Who is Toothless? And why is your hair down?"

Lenora couldn't help but laugh a little at his last question as she held up the twine. "The twine was too loose and fell off, that's all."

Aster smiled a little. "It looks nice. I like it. You should have it down more often."

She smiled back before quickly redoing her braid as she still felt slightly embarrassed.

"Now, would you please answer my other questions? Who is—wait, what's all this?" asked Aster, frowning as he suddenly noticed her supplies. "And don't tell me it's nothing. What is going on?"

Lenora sighed. She was caught. She might as well tell him part of it. "I'm leaving Berk. I was about to leave when you showed up."

Aster nearly popped a vein. "You're WHAT?" he shouted. He looked hurt as his tone softened. "Thor Almighty, Lenora, why? Why would you just leave Berk like that? You have a home, a father, friends, you're famous and you—"

"I know!" she interrupted. Her face softened. "I know, okay? But really, it's not what you think. If I wasn't doing so well in the arena, do you honestly think anyone back in Berk would even consider being with five feet of Lenora the Useless? Do you think my dad would be smiling instead of scowling at me if I wasn't suddenly less of a klutz than I was before? They don't know the real me and if I showed them who I really am, I'd be exiled or worse."

"But—"

"But nothing!" she interrupted. She sighed. "Look, Aster, there're things going on that I haven't told anyone, things that I _can't _tell anyone. But the truth of the matter is, I'm done lying to the village, to my father and to myself about who I am. I'm not a dragon slayer and I'm not a proper Viking. I'm something else entirely. I can't do my final exam tomorrow. It's better if I just leave Berk for a while."

Aster looked horrified and saddened before a new look of determination crossed his face. "Fine, then. If you're leaving, then I'm coming with you."

Lenora's eyes widened. "What?" Why on earth would Aster, everyone's favorite Viking, leave Berk?

"Lenora, the truth is, I don't want you want you to go because I love you!" he confessed. "I have for a long time, I just didn't know realize it before and when I did, I didn't know how to tell you. And before you say anything, I love the real you. The woman I see inside, the woman who's done so much for this tribe and saved my life."

Tears came to Lenora's eyes. She'd wanted to hear those words for so long. She sighed again. "I love you too," she admitted. "I've been in love with you all my life. But—"

"But nothing!" he interrupted. He gently punched her left shoulder. "That's for the lies and for trying to leave Berk without saying good-bye." He gently swatted the back of her head. "And that's for everything else!" He then paled when Toothless' growl was heard and then he looked scared when Toothless came into view.

"Oh, crap!" muttered Lenora, knowing what was going to happen. She should've known.

"Get down!" said Aster, knocking her down as Toothless ran straight for them. "Lenora, run! Run!"

But Lenora quickly got back up and knocked Aster's axe away before coming in between him and Toothless. She held up her hands to the dragon, who was growling at Aster.

"Hey, stop it. Calm down! It's okay! It's okay! He's a friend," said Lenora. Toothless relaxed a little, but he kept his fierce gaze upon Aster, as if he was daring the boy to try anything. Lenora turned to Aster. "Sorry about that. You just scared him, that's all."

Aster looked at her incredulously. "_I_ scared _him?_" his eyes narrowed. "Who is 'him'?"

"Uh, Aster, this is my best friend Toothless. Toothless, this is Aster, he's the one I told you about," said Lenora, slowly.

Aster's eyes widened as Toothless' ears perked up at this introduction. Before Lenora could react, Aster was yelling as Toothless picked him up by the scuff of his shirt and threw him into the lake! Aster came up, soaking wet and looking as mad as a wet hen.

"What did he do that for?" he demanded.

Lenora looked sheepish. "Well, he's really protective of me and I kind of told him that if you hurt me, he could throw you into the lake."

Aster's jaw dropped as he got out of the lake. "You told him what?" he said, as he quickly shook himself dry. "Lenora, I—I don't—this is—"

Lenora couldn't blame Aster for running off at that point. He'd just learned that the girl he loved was best friends with a Night Fury. She'd committed treason.

"Dun-dun-dun, we're dead!" she said, dramatically.

Toothless made an agreeing noise before shrugging his shoulders and walking off.

"Whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" she demanded. "Toothless, we need to get him to like you. If he lets it slip about us when he's in this mood, we'll be in so much trouble. Will you help me teach him, what you taught me, please?"

Toothless paused for a moment and then nodded.

Lenora quickly got onto his back and then they took off. They found Aster running up the hill, and then Toothless grabbed Aster's arm with his front claws. Aster was yelling in fear before he was dropped onto one of the highest branches of a very tall tree that Toothless was sitting on.

"Lenora, get me down from here!" he demanded.

"I will, if you give me a chance to explain," said Lenora. "And if you don't want to listen, then just let me show you at least." She looked at him, pleadingly. "Aster, please, just trust me."

Aster sighed and then nodded. "I do trust you. Just make sure your friend doesn't toss me into the lake again," he said, scowling at Toothless.

Lenora nodded and then held out her hand, which Aster took and she helped him onto the back of the saddle, where he then took ahold of her waist. She smiled and then patted Toothless' cheek.

"Toothless, let's get him down. Gently," she said. She turned to Aster as Toothless slowly prepared to take off. "See? Nothing to be afraid of."

But she spoke too soon as Toothless took off sharply without prior warning and went straight up into the air as Aster let out a startled yelp before he tightened his grip on Lenora.

"Toothless! What're you doing? Bad dragon!" yelled Lenora. _This is a fiasco! _She turned to Aster. "I'm sorry; he's not usually like this! Oh, crap."

Toothless wasn't done yet as he rolled onto his back as he dove in and out of the sea several times, like a salmon swimming upstream.

"Toothless, what're you doing? We need him to like you!" said Lenora.

But Toothless didn't listen as he flew high into the sky and did several spins.

"And now the spinning," she sighed. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile!"

Aster buried his face into Lenora's shoulder as Toothless did a spinning nose dive. "Okay, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Now would you please get him to stop? I'm sorry!"

Aster's apology seemed to do the trick, as Toothless suddenly stopped his crazy aerodynamics and then gave them a graceful flight across the sea and into the sunset.

"You stubborn, crazy, overgrown, fire-breathing, winged lizard!" said Lenora, half-amused, half-annoyed by his behavior. "You scared Aster to death because you wanted him to apologize? Toothless!"

Toothless just snorted, making her sigh in exasperation.

_I guess I should've expected this, but still…oh, what am I going to do with this guy? _

"Hey, don't worry about it. I deserved it after running off like that. Well, I'll give him one thing, he certainly cares about you," said Aster. He'd relaxed considerably since Toothless had stopped his crazy aerodynamics.

Lenora just nodded as they both were quiet, not wishing to disturb the peaceful moment. They soared high into the clouds. Aster seemed to be enjoying himself and trusting Toothless so much that he briefly let go of Lenora's waist before reaching out and touching the clouds as he gazed at the incredible sights in amazement.

Toothless then curved and went up so high, they were above the clouds and they saw the now starry night sky. The clouds below them were like a sea of white fluff and then they gasped in awe as they saw the beautiful colors of the Northern Lights. They flew near the village of Berk, which had never looked so peaceful before as the lanterns torches glowed in the quiet night.

Aster gently wrapped his arms around Lenora and rested his head on her shoulder as Toothless took them away from Berk and towards the cove. He then broke the silence by asking questions about Toothless and found most of Lenora's stories amusing and the work she'd done for him astounding beyond words.

"All right, I admit it," he said, smiling as he gazed at their surroundings. "This is pretty cool. It's amazing." Aster gently rubbed Toothless' cheek. "He's amazing. It's no wonder you're always going off with him. He's a good friend."

Toothless let out a purr as Lenora smiled.

"I think you just won him over," she said, chuckling.

Aster smiled and then looked serious. "So, what now? Lenora, your final exam is tomorrow and you know what you're going to have to do." _You know you're going to have to kill a dragon_, was implied but went unspoken.

"I know," she sighed. "Maybe…maybe, if you're still willing, you could come with us."

Aster sighed. "There's nothing I'd like to do more, but—what was that?"


	7. Truth Revealed

Truth Revealed

Lenora frowned as a dragon call she'd never heard before, hit her ears. "I don't know, but—ah!" She was cut off when Toothless suddenly went rigid and took a dive downward. "Toothless, what's happening? What is it?"

But Toothless made no kind of response as he began acting skittish and he flew them deep into a thick fog. Suddenly, a Monstrous Nightmare came into view, carrying a large sheep in its talons.

"Get down!" hissed Aster, as they both ducked.

Within moments, they found themselves surrounded by countless dragons, all of different colors and species, but were all carrying large amounts of food in their claws. Lenora tightened her grip on Toothless' saddle as she felt Aster squeeze her hand.

"What's going on?" he hissed.

"I don't know," she whispered. She turned to Toothless. "Toothless, you've got to get us out of here, bud."

But Toothless shook his head and just continued flying onward.

"Lenora, they're hauling in their kill!" whispered Aster. "I think we're headed for the nest."

"I think you're right," said Lenora. But she was confused. Why would Toothless suddenly take them to the nest without any inclination before doing so? Why would he take them there at all?

They then dove down and narrowly avoided several large rock formations until they came to an enormous island with an active volcano. Toothless flew them into a large hole in the volcano and other dragons followed them. It was dark, except for the red and orange glow from the lava deep beneath the heart of the volcano. They then came to a large area, with a bottomless pit that was filled with white smoke and rock formations where the dragons were sitting after dropping in their food.

"I can't believe this," whispered Lenora. "We actually found the nest! No wonder we could never find the nest before. Only dragons can find it! What my dad wouldn't give to find this place."

"No kidding," murmured Aster.

Thankfully, Toothless hid them behind a large rock, and from where they were sitting, they were able to watch what was taking place.

"It's satisfying to know all our food has been dumped down a large hole," said Lenora, sarcastically.

Aster frowned. "They're not eating any of it. Why is that?"

His question was answered when the last dragon to drop its kill, a sleepy Gronckle, came in and spat out a small fish, only to suddenly be eaten by the largest and scariest-looking dragon, Lenora and Aster had ever seen in their entire lives. Every dragon in the volcano, even Toothless, was cowering or shaking in fear of the large dragon.

"What is _that?_" Lenora whispered. But before Aster could respond, she quickly patted Toothless. "All right, bud, we've got to get out of here, now!"

Toothless didn't need to be told twice, as he immediately took off, along with the other dragons just as a Zippleback became the large dragon's prey. None of them breathed easily until they were safe in the cove, far away from the nest. Once they were safe, Aster and Lenora got off Toothless and took several deep breaths to calm themselves down.

"Holy freaking crap!" said Lenora, speaking at last. "What was that thing?"

"I think it was a Red Death," said Aster. "Fishlegs mentioned it once when he was reading dragon lore at the library. Red Death is the Queen of the Dragons. She controls the dragons and forces them to hunt and fish for her upon pain of death. But Red Death was supposed to be a myth, a fable!"

"She seemed real enough to me," said Lenora. She clutched her forehead. "That dragon call we heard earlier must've been Red Death's summoning cry. Toothless took us there because he had to!"

"And he never took any food and attacked our weapons instead because he was trying to protect his fellow dragons and because he was scared of Red Death," said Aster, in realization.

Lenora turned to Toothless. "Is that true, Toothless?"

Toothless nodded and then rested his head on Lenora's shoulder and whimpered.

"Hey, hey, don't be sorry. It's okay," she murmured, as she hugged him. "You were scared and you were trying to do the right thing. It's okay." She stroked his cheek before turning back to Aster.

"Lenora, you do realize that we can't leave. Now that we know all of this," said Aster. "We've just discovered the dragons' nest, the thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here! And not only that, but we've learned that all we've been taught about dragons is wrong. We've got to tell your dad about this."

"Tell my dad?" said Lenora, incredulously. "Aster, are you insane? If we tell him how we found the nest right now, he'll go berserk and kill Toothless! We have to think this through carefully. Even if we took my Dad to the nest right now, we'd only get ourselves killed! Red Death is nothing like the other dragons we fight! We need a plan before any attack is made!"

Aster frowned and sighed. "You're right. But what do we do now?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "Just give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."

"Okay." Aster then gently flicked her shoulder. "That's for kidnapping me."

Lenora rolled her eyes. "And what do I get for everything else?" she asked.

"This," said Aster. He pulled her in close and kissed her soundly on the lips.

Lenora emitted a soft squeal as she felt "the spark" go through her as she returned Aster's kiss. His arms made their way around her waist as her arms twisted around his neck. They finally broke apart for air and were smiling at each other.

"I love you," she murmured.

"I love you too," he said. He kissed her cheek.

Lenora nodded and then Toothless came up and licked Aster's cheek along with a stern look, making them both laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I won't hurt her, I promise," said Aster. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Lenora felt considerably happier as she waved good-bye to Aster and then turned to Toothless, who was giving her a look.

"Oh, don't give me that look. Just wait until you find a female dragon that you like, and then you'll see it," said Lenora.

Toothless just snorted and then curled up on the ground and beckoned for her to sleep with him, which she did as she silently wondered what tomorrow's final exam would bring.

**XXX**

Morning came all but too quickly for Lenora's liking.

She wore her mother's helmet while she stood at the entrance to the arena, as she waited to be allowed in. She was scared and dreading what was going to happen and to make things worse, she could hear the village chanting her name and then her father's words hit a nerve.

"Well, I can show my face in public again!" said Stoick. "If someone had told me that in a few short weeks, Lenora would go from being, well, Lenora, to placing first in dragon training, I would've tied him to a mast and shipped him off for fear he'd gone mad! But here we are and no one is more surprised or more proud than I am. Today, my girl becomes a Viking! Today, she becomes one of us!"

As everyone cheered and applauded, Lenora flinched and fought back tears.

_Was I never anything more than just a failure to you, before I started this, Dad? What happened to you telling me I had other good skills the other night? Why did it have to take so much pretending and lies just to get you to be proud of me and see me as one of my own people?_

"Hey," said Aster, snapping her out of her thoughts. "You okay?"

Lenora wiped away her tears. "Ask me again when this is over."

He nodded and then looked concerned. "Be careful with that dragon."

"It's not the dragon I'm worried about," said Lenora, nodding towards her father, who was taking his seat to watch. The dragon she could handle, but Stoick was another matter entirely.

"What're you going to do?" he asked.

"The only thing I can do," said Lenora, sighing. "Put an end to this. I have to try, at least." She turned to him and then pulled out her notebook. "Aster, if something goes wrong, promise me you'll keep Toothless safe. And take my notebook. It has all my information about him, my blueprints and everything else I know about dragons."

"I promise." Aster took the notebook and placed it in his pocket, fully understanding just how much Lenora was trusting him with. He then cupped her face. "Just promise me nothing will go wrong and that whatever happens, you'll remember that I love you."

She smiled before kissing him. "I promise and I love you too."

Gobber then appeared, just as they broke apart. "It's time, Lenora. Knock them dead."

Lenora took a deep breath and with a heavy heart, she entered the arena.

She kept her eyes downward as she slowly walked into the arena. She neither cared for nor fully noticed everyone's cheers and applause. She walked over to the weapons rack and selected a shield and a small dagger from the rack before taking a deep breath to settle her nerves.

"I'm ready," she said.

Just then, the Monstrous Nightmare's cage door was opened and the red-scaled beast immediately came out, in one of its fiery rages—literally. It had set itself, along with the cage doors on fire and was in a very bad mood. It ran along the arena wall before firing at the spectators, who narrowly avoided the beast's attack.

Lenora cringed as the Nightmare crawled along the chained ceiling as fast as a spider just as its fire had gone out. It then turned to her with a hungry look in its golden eyes before climbed down and then slowly approached her.

_Okay, it's now or never_. Lenora forced herself to stay calm as she dropped her dagger and shield, much to everyone's confusion and disapproval. She ignored this and just focused on the dragon.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay," she murmured, as she held out her hands for the dragon to sniff. She then took off her mother's helmet. _Mom, if you're watching this, I'm sorry. _"I'm not one of them," she told the dragon, as she put the helmet on the ground. She then began to sing her mother's favorite song that had always calmed her and had even worked on Toothless when he was upset. It was her last dragon trick.

"'_Each day when the sun rises, _

_I hurry from my sleep_

_I can't wait to greet you with my song_

_You are every kind of flower,_

_Every animal I meet_

_You are nature full of grace and majesty_

_From your skies, the snow gently falls to the earth_

_From your trees, the birds nest and play_

_From your oceans the fish school and travel the world_

_Oh, Nature please, don't ever go away!_"

Much to Lenora's relief and everyone else's shock, her mother's song was working and calming the Monstrous Nightmare down. Smiling, Lenora continued singing.

"'_Each day when the sun rises, _

_I hurry from my sleep_

_I can't wait to greet you with my song_

_You are every kind of flower,_

_Every animal I meet_

_Nature, you are grace and majesty_

_Nature, you are everything, that's free._'"

After she finished singing, she saw that the song had worked like a charm. The Monstrous Nightmare was now perfectly calm as it stopped its predatory stance. Everyone was watching in both shock and awe, but Stoick was angry and perhaps even a little scared.

"Stop the fight!" he ordered.

"No!" said Lenora, firmly. "I need you all to see this!" She then reached out and gently stroked the Nightmare's face, making it purr and nuzzle her palm. "They're not what you think they are! You don't have to kill them!"

But Stoick wasn't listening. "I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" In a moment of rage, he stood up and banged on one of the metal bars with its hammer. That was a mistake.

Some dragons reacted badly to noises like that, particularly ones who'd been in captivity for many a moon. The Monstrous Nightmare's eyes narrowed and it went into a rage. It snapped its jaws, nearly biting off Lenora's hand as she screamed and ran.

The Monstrous Nightmare chased her around the arena, as she narrowly escaped its fire attacks. It destroyed the weapons rack and came close to her several times until Aster managed to pry open one of the doors with an axe and get inside. He then tossed a club at the dragon's head, knocking it down and making it chase after him instead.

Stoick then managed to get another door open. "This way!" he yelled.

Aster managed to get to safety, but the Nightmare stopped Lenora from getting out by firing at the entrance, nearly hitting Aster and Stoick, and forcing her to lead the angry dragon away to protect them. Seconds later, Lenora found herself pinned underneath the Nightmare's enormous talons. She covered her face with her hands and prepared for the worst, when Toothless' scream met her ears and Gobber yelled out, "Night Fury!"

_Toothless! Oh, holy crap! He must've heard my scream and came for me! Thanks; buddy._

Toothless roared before blasting the arena ceiling and then diving in and forcing the Nightmare off of Lenora, freeing her and saving her life. There was a great deal of smoke from Toothless' fire attack, but Lenora could make out the two dragons' forms as they wrestled and fought one another. Their fight finally ended when Toothless kicked the Nightmares away, and sent it running back into its cage. He then protectively covered Lenora, snarling and hissing at any he deemed a threat.

Lenora got up, never more relieved and yet terrified to see Toothless before. She ran to his side. "All right, Toothless, I'm safe. Go on. Get out of here!"

But Toothless wouldn't leave. He remained by Lenora's side, loyal and faithful to the end.

"Toothless, please, go!" she begged, as everyone came in with weapons. "Please!" She couldn't bear to see Toothless get hurt or worse. To her horror, Stoick came charging in with an axe, despite Aster's protests. "Dad, no! He won't hurt you! No, don't!"

But her cries went unanswered as Toothless knocked down any who came towards Lenora or him, and then charged when Stoick came after him. He managed to disarm and pin down Stoick, and was about to attack him with fire, but then…

"Toothless, stop!" yelled Lenora. "He's my father! Don't!"

Upon hearing Lenora's cries, Toothless stopped before he could fire and then got off Stoick before he smiled and then nuzzled Lenora's shoulder.

Suddenly, Lenora was pried away from Toothless as the other Vikings came in and pinned her friend down. "No! Please, please don't hurt him! Let him go, please!" she begged. She tried to run to Toothless, only to be held back by Aster, who gave her a pained look as he shook his head. Lenora turned to her father, hoping she could reach him. "Dad, please. Please, don't do this."

But Stoick, who'd risen up, just glared both at her and at the dragon. "Put it with the others. I need to have a little talk with Lenora."

Before she could protest, Stoick grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the Main Hall, before slamming the doors shut and released her. He looked furious, far more furious than Lenora had ever seen him before.

"I should've known. I should've seen the signs," growled Stoick. "No wonder you were suddenly doing so well in the ring! You learned everything from the source, didn't you?"

"Dad—" she began, but he cut her off.

"We had a deal!" he shouted.

"I know we did! But that was before…" Lenora bit her lip as she ran her hands through her hair. How had she let things go so far and become what they were? "It's all so messed up."

"So, everything in the ring was just, what? A trick? A lie?" demanded Stoick.

Lenora sighed before she tried to explain herself. "Yes, I admit it, they were tricks, but they weren't lies! I was told to take down the dragons from before in any way I could, and I did!" she said. "I picked up a few things, other ways to stop a dragon's attack, and I used them! I found other ways to stop them without using violence! That's all! I'm not a dragon slayer you were right. I tried to tell you this before you put me into the ring with the others, but you wouldn't listen." _You never do listen._

Stoick let out a growl while keeping his back to her.

Lenora sighed again and tried another tactic. "Dad, please. Take this out on me. Be mad at me! Exile me, lock me up, whatever! But please, don't hurt Toothless!"

Stoick turned to face her, looking stunned and angry. "The dragon? That's what you're worried about? Not the people you almost killed!"

"He was just protecting me!" she protested. "Dad, he doesn't hurt people unless he's defending himself or me! He kept me safe from the Monstrous Nightmare and he only attacked you because you came after him with an axe, but he stopped when I asked him to because he listens to me!"

"Are you crazy? It's a dragon!" yelled Stoick. "And worse, he's a Night Fury! He's just like the rest of his kind—cruel, barbaric, vicious, monsters who do nothing but kill!"

Fury surged through Lenora as she thought the past few weeks with Toothless. Toothless was a Night Fury, supposedly unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, she'd unintentionally crippled him and he'd had plenty of time and opportunity to kill her, and yet he hadn't.

While Berk had rejected her until she learned what she had, Toothless had accepted her regardless of what she knew. She'd helped him to fly again; he was her most loyal friend and protector, and the only one she could truly go to for help and comfort. She'd befriended other dragons; she'd won over a Monstrous Nightmare, for goodness' sake! What did Stoick know about Toothless, other dragons or even her, for that matter? He didn't know anything. So who was he to judge any of them?

"YOU CAN'T JUDGE HIM LIKE THAT! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM!" she yelled, as tears streamed down her face. "YOU DON'T KNOW HIM ANYMORE THAN YOU KNOW ME!"

Stoick froze. "What did you say?" he growled.

"You heard me," she said, sounding far braver than she felt. She didn't yell or cry again, but she spoke loudly and clearly. "You don't know me. You never did and you never have! You have no idea how much I've been keeping bottled up inside because I knew that you would never understand! Growing up, I was only trying so hard to be a dragon slayer because I wanted you to be proud of me for once in my life instead of disappointed! For years, I pretended to be something I wasn't because I thought that being anything else but that would only make you more disappointed in me. I could never go to you if I wanted to talk! I couldn't tell you about everything I do at the forge or anything!

"I wanted to be able to talk with you, actually have you listen and be happy with me just because I was your daughter so badly, but that never happened no matter what I tried! Part of me thought I could be a dragon slayer, but I found out it wasn't who I am when I found Toothless in the woods after I shot him down and released him! With Toothless, I could be myself. I never had to pretend with him! I accidentally crippled him, but he didn't care about any of that! He trusted me, I helped him and he became my protector and best friend! And not only that, but he listens to me and he's there when I need him, not just when I need protection, but when I need someone to talk to! A _Night Fury_ did that for me when no one else did! Toothless is more than just a dragon, he's family to me!"

Lenora stopped talking at this point, and paused for breath, hoping that her words would have some effect, that maybe he was finally going to listen to her for once. But Stoick just turned red with fury on his face.

"How can you say all this about a dragon?" he yelled. "They've killed hundreds of us!"

"And we've killed thousands of them!" she shouted. "They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves! There's something on their island, Dad, it's beyond anything we've ever seen before. It's—"

"Their island?" interrupted Stoick, making Lenora cover her mouth in horror at her slip-up. "So, you've been to their nest? How did you find it?"

But Lenora was silent. If she told him how she'd found the nest while he was like this, he'd go off to it and get himself killed. As hurt and angry as Lenora was with him, he was still her father and she didn't want to lose him. She couldn't tell him that she and Aster had only been able to see the nest because only a dragon could find it.

But Stoick seemed to guess her thoughts. "It's because of that dragon of yours, isn't it?" he said. "Only dragons can find the nest!"

Lenora was horrified when she saw a familiar look on Stoick's face. "No, no, no, Dad! It's not what you think! You don't know what you're up against! It's like nothing you've ever seen!" She tried to make him listen as he pushed past her and headed for the door. "Dad, please, I promise you, you can't win this one! There's a Red Death on the island! It's huge, it's dangerous and it'll kill you before you get within five feet of it!" In an act of desperation, she grabbed his arm. "For once in your life, will you please, just listen to me?"

But Stoick turned around so sharply, she lost her grip and fell to the ground. He glared at her. "I won't slay that dragon of yours because he protected you in the ring, but don't think for a second that either of you are not going to go unpunished for what you did! Right now, I'm so ashamed of you; I can't even begin to describe it. You're lucky I promised your mother I'd take care of you, otherwise I'd exile you from Berk right now! You've thrown your lot in with them. You're not a Viking. I don't know what you are anymore. But you're certainly not my daughter!"

Lenora couldn't believe those words had just come out of her father's mouth as she watched him leave the Hall and order for the fleet to be readied and then she was alone in the dark. His words rang in her mind over and over again. "_You're certainly not my daughter!_" She'd never once expected him to disown her. They weren't close, but she always thought that he loved her, deep down and would still care about her no matter what. How could her hero, her own father, do that to her?

Heartbroken and devastated at losing everything that she'd held dear, Lenora buried her face in her hands and cried until she had no more tears to shed.


	8. Battling Red Death

Battling Red Death

Lenora was more of an outcast than ever.

The entire fleet was going off in search of the nest, including all of Berk's best warriors and every weapon on the island. Stoick made it clear to Lenora that he was done with her as he didn't even take her shield or blanket she'd made for him before with him this time. To make things worse, the entire village was rejecting her once again, but in harsher ways.

Everyone was whispering or glaring at her as she walked through the village. Some shunned her from their group of friends, and others rudely shoved by her after insulting her in horrible ways. But surprisingly enough, Lenora couldn't bring herself to be hurt or angry by their treatment of her. They didn't know the kind of person she was, they had only seen her go against everything they knew. They never knew her before and they certainly didn't know her now. They only knew what they had seen, which was nothing.

Oddly enough, Gobber was on Lenora's side, not just because he was her godfather, but because he believed Stoick was wrong, as he'd seen the closeness Lenora and Toothless shared in the arena. He was going with Stoick to the nest on Stoick's orders, but not before Gobber secretly promised Lenora that he'd do his best to keep himself, Stoick and Toothless safe and bring them all home in one piece.

Lenora couldn't prevent Toothless from being chained up and placed onto her father's ship, and could only watch from the highest point on the docks as she saw the only one besides Gobber and Aster who'd really cared about her, be taken away and she had no idea if Gobber would be able to keep his promise. She watched the fleet until it was out of sight.

_I should've left Berk when I had the chance. None of this would've happened if I had. Toothless would still be with me and Dad never would've had reason to disown me. _

"Hey," said Aster, coming up beside her.

"Hey," said Lenora, softly. At least he hadn't rejected her, which was of some comfort to her.

Aster sighed. "It's a mess. You must feel horrible. You've lost everything: your father, your tribe, your best friend…"

Lenora glared at him. Was he trying to make her feel worse? "Way to pour salt into the wound," she snapped. But there was no real anger behind her words, only pain. She sighed. "Why didn't I just leave with him when I had the chance? Heck, why couldn't I have killed that dragon when I found him in the woods? None of this would've happened. It would've been better for everyone else if I had."

"Yeah, the rest of us would've done it—killed the dragon, I mean. So why didn't you?" asked Aster, as he focused his blue gaze on her. "Why didn't you kill him?"

Lenora sighed again. "I don't know. I couldn't."

"That's not an answer."

She felt frustrated at this point. "Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?"

"Because you never told me why you let him go when you found him and I want to remember what you say, right now," said Aster, firmly.

Lenora sighed in frustration and exasperation as she glared at Aster. She loved him, but he sure had a way of pushing her buttons. "Oh, for the love of—I was a coward! I was weak! I wouldn't kill a dragon!"

Aster smiled. "You said 'wouldn't' that time," he pointed out.

"Whatever! I wouldn't!" she said, throwing up her hands. Normally, she wasn't like this, but recent events had taken a very emotional toll on her. "Three hundred years and I'm the first Viking who wouldn't kill a dragon!"

_Mom was wrong when she named me. I was never meant to be the light of the village. I'm just the foreign outcast. _

Aster smirked. "But you're the first one to ride one, though," he pointed out, as Lenora's face lit up in realization. "So?"

His words did the trick as Lenora thought back to everything she'd done. She'd proved that dragons were not mindless monsters. She'd befriended a Night Fury. She'd made a way for Toothless to fly again. She'd even managed to ride him. She'd become one with Toothless because they were equals and opposites. She wasn't a dragon slayer, she was a dragon rider!

"I wouldn't kill him because he looked as scared as I was," she confessed. "I wouldn't kill him because he's like me in so many ways. I never had to pretend I was anything but myself with him, just like he didn't have to pretend with me. I looked at him and I saw myself."

"I'll bet he's really scared now. So, what're you going to do about it?" asked Aster.

Lenora shrugged. "Probably something stupid."

Aster laughed. "Good, but you've already done that."

She grinned as an idea came to her. "Then, probably something crazy. Are you with me?"

He held her hand in his and smiled. "Always."

Lenora nodded, grateful for Aster's help. "Meet me at the ring in twenty minutes!" she said, before she ran off.

_This is crazy, but it's the only way I can save Dad and Toothless, the only way to bring peace to the two sides. One way or another, it'll end._

**XXX**

Stoick and his men made their way to the nest.

It was getting dark and the fog was thick enough to cut with a knife. Some of the other men were a little skeptical of their plans and wary of the Night Fury on the ship, but no one dared to openly question Stoick, especially not when he was in this mood.

"Sound your positions, stay within earshot!" he ordered.

Stoick was focused solely on the nest, but in the back of his mind, he thought of Lenora, and what she had said before he left. Did he really not know anything about his own daughter? Granted, her treason had been a shock, but everything else? And what had she been rambling on before about what was on the island?

Red Death! What a laugh! Red Death was myth! She could've been a half-decent Chieftess one day, but she had chosen the dragons' side over that of her own people! And how could she have been crazy enough to befriend a dragon and call it family? Granted, it was because of what she'd done that they even knew how to find the nest, but she'd still lied and committed treason!

_By Thor, Lenora, where did I go wrong with you? When did you stop being my daughter?_

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Gobber spoke. "Listen, Stoick, I was overhearing some of the men just now, and, well, some of them, are wondering what it is we're up to up here. Not me, of course. I know that you're always the man with the plan. But some, not me, are wondering if there is in fact, a plan at all, and what it might be?" Gobber was the only one who could dare say such things to Stoick's face and not get punished for it.

"Find the nest and take it," said Stoick, firmly, not taking his eyes of what was in front of him.

Gobber's face fell, but then he faked a little smile and tried to stay positive. "Of course. Send them running. The old Viking fallback. Nice and simple."

Stoick shushed him when he heard Lenora's pet devil make a noise. The Night Fury was making a strange purring and cooing noise while its ears were perked up, listening for something. From the way the beast's head was titled, Stoick knew where to go.

He took up position at the helm and stirred them to the right, and then he turned left. He was almost upon the nest. He could smell it.

Fear settled on everyone, especially when they came upon a graveyard of ships, ships that had been taken in previous attempts to find the nest. Stoick ignored this and continued to follow the Night Fury's directions as he ordered his men to stay low and ready their weapons.

They soon came to shore. They had found the dragons nest.

**XXX**

Meanwhile, Lenora was in the ring, about to open one of the dragon cages, when she heard a voice say, "If you're looking to get eaten, I'd definitely go with the Gronckle."

She spun around and was shocked to see not only Aster, but all her fellow trainees behind her. "What're you guys doing here?" After today's disaster, she'd expected them all to shun her.

"Aster told us what you told him about your Night Fury, Toothless, and we've decided after hearing that and after what we saw earlier, you're not going to have to this alone," said Fishlegs, smiling. "Any girl that's brave enough to tame a Night Fury and calm down a Monstrous Nightmare is one we would definitely follow into battle and we also want to say we're sorry for how we treated you."

Lenora was surprised and grateful. "Thanks, guys," she said. "This really means a lot to me."

Tuffnut approached her. "It's our pleasure. You are wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon—it's me."

Snotlout pressed forward and tried to suck up. "I love this plan!"

Rufftnut shoved him away before she smiled as she spoke. "You're crazy, but in a good way."

Aster moved her away before smiling at Lenora. "So, what is the plan?"

Lenora smiled before turning back to the cages. "We are going to ride the dragons to the nest and save my dad and the fleet. We'll let each dragon out one at time and then once it trusts you, you'll be able to ride it. Stand back, don't hold any weapons and stay calm. If you just do exactly as I say, then everything will work out fine."

And with that, Lenora opened the Monstrous Nightmare's cage, freeing the beast. Everyone stayed back on her orders as she slowly coaxed the dragon out. She kept her hand on its nose, allowing it to breathe in her scent; as she softly hummed her song from before. Everyone was gasping and watching her in awe.

"There we go. It's okay. It's okay. There's a good girl," she murmured. Lenora then came up to Snotlout, as the dragon had been leaning towards him, and then grabbed his hand as he whimpered in fear. "It's okay, cousin. This is a greeting, a sign of trust. If you stay calm and show that you trust her, she'll do the same for you." She placed his hand where hers had once been.

Snotlout sighed in relief and let out a small laugh as the Monstrous Nightmare purred and nuzzled his palm. "I can't believe it. This is incredible!" he cried. "She likes me!"

Lenora smiled. "See? It's easy. As long as you keep calm and don't attack them, they won't attack you. And after they've chosen you, you have to trust in the dragon to know what to do just as much as you trust yourself. You have to become one."

"I've got some questions," said Ruffnut. "Can we pick their names or will they decide what they like best, like Toothless did with you? Can we decide what dragon we want to ride?"

"Actually, the dragon will choose you, not vice-versa. As for the names, that, I don't know," she admitted. "You'll just have to see with the names. Now, let's get back to work."

For the next several minutes, Lenora had every trainee trust and befriend a dragon while she explained what she knew about dragons. It went a lot quicker than it had with her and Toothless. Before long, Monstrous Nightmare was declared Firewyrm. The Deadly Nadder had chosen Aster and had the name of Brightscales. The Gronckle had chosen Fishlegs and was called Puffskin. And the Hideous Zippleback chose the twins and its heads were called Smoke and Sparks.

It seemed like everyone got the dragon that suited them best.

"We don't have time to make the kind of saddle I made for Toothless, so we'll just have to make do with what we've got so you can hold on." She got out rope and attached to the dragons, and along with that and the dragons' spikes, everyone was soon on their dragons.

Lenora was on the Deadly Nadder with Aster. The Nadder was his, but she was going to steer for a while as she was their leader. He had his arms around her waist, and was seated firmly behind her. Lenora then looked up. "All right, are we ready?"

"We're ready!" said everyone. "Just give the orders, Chieftess!"

"Let's get this show on the road," said Aster. He patted Brightscales's cheek. "Fire, Brightscales!"

The Deadly Nadder fired at the ceiling, making a hole that was big enough for them all to escape from. Once they, they flew out into the skies and headed for the nest as everyone cheered and let out whoops of joy as they soared.

Lenora tightly gripped the rope that kept her attached to the Nadder. "Pray we'll get through this," she murmured. She was unafraid, but even she didn't know what the outcome of the battle would be.

Aster squeezed her hand. "With you leading us, how can we not?" he said. "Lenora, it's going to be okay, I promise. I love you."

"I love you too," she said, as she turned her head a little and kissed him.

_Whatever happens, at least we'll know that we did our best and did this for our people and the dragons. No matter how this ends, it will end today. Mom, I hope I'm making you proud._

**XXX**

Back on the island, Stoick and his men were preparing the catapults and making their attack plans for the upcoming battle. They were going to break open the volcano and after that, they would attack with everything they had.

Stoick drew his plan in the sand. "When we crack this mountain open, all of perdition is going to break loose."

"In my undies," said Gobber, trying to lighten the sober mood. "Good thing I brought extras."

"No matter how this ends, it ends today!" said Stoick, as he stood up. He then held up his hand and clenched his fist, signaling for the catapults to be fired.

Huge boulders hit the volcano, causing enormous holes in the large rock formation. They then approached the hole nearest to them.

Stoick stood at the entrance and stood his ground, not moving in fear or shock when a flaming shot flew over his head, lighting up the cavern wall, exposing countless dragons for Odin alone knew how far in.

He then let out a battle cry and ran in, and swung his hammer, only to find that all of dragons were flying away from him. No one could get a single shot in as the dragons flew off at incredible speeds. Then, it was over just as quickly as it had begun.

"Is that it?" asked Gobber, looking baffled. But then he cheered out, "We've done it!" and everyone burst into cheer along with him.

But Stoick didn't share in their joy. Something was amiss. He could feel it. _It couldn't be that easy. No, there has to be something else. _He could see that Lenora's Night Fury was cowering and trying fruitlessly to escape. He'd never seen a dragon scared before, but the beast's behavior confirmed his suspicions. _No, it certainly is not over yet!_

"This isn't over!" he shouted. "Form your ranks! Hold together!"

He turned around to see that volcano was shaking and not from an eruption. It was breaking as if something was trying to get out. Suddenly, there was loud dragon's roar, louder than anything they'd ever heard and a cry that none of them recognized.

Stoick leapt down as something as big as the island started emerging from the volcano. "Get clear!" he yelled, as everyone yelled and ran for it.

"Beard of Thor!" exclaimed Gobber. "What is that?"

Stoick immediately knew what it was. Fear and horror swept over him. "It's Red Death," he gasped. "Lenora was telling the truth!" His daughter had tried to warn him, despite how he'd treated her. She'd tried to look after him and he'd spurned her kindness. Guilt settled in his heart. What had he done? "Odin help us all."

Red Death let out a terrible roar before launching its attack. The catapults didn't even faze it and just destroyed their weapons before firing upon the ships within its reach, including the one that held Lenora's dragon.

"Smart, that one," said Gobber, referring to Red Death.

"I was a fool!" said Stoick, ignoring him. "Lenora tried to warn me about this, but I didn't listen to her. I should've listened to her a long time ago!" _Val, forgive me for not doing better to keep my promise to you. I should've seen Lenora for the treasure she was. This is all my fault. _He turned to Spitelout, Snotlout's father and his brother. "Lead the men to the far side of the island!" He turned to Gobber. "Gobber, go with the men!"

Gobber shook his head. "Oh, no. I promised Lenora I'd keep you, me and that dragon of hers safe and home in one piece, and I intend to keep my word to my goddaughter, especially if you're thinking of doing something crazy!"

"I can buy them a few minutes if I give that thing something to hunt!" he protested, trying to ignore how he felt at the mention of Gobber's promise. Gobber had been more of a father to Lenora than Stoick himself. Stoick silently swore to change all that.

Gobber grabbed his hand and grinned. "Then I can double that time!"

Stoick smiled. "What would I do without you, old friend?"

Gobber laughed before they then let out battle cries and tried to distract and attack Red Death. They managed to get it away from the other Vikings, and Stoick soon found himself about to be fired upon by Red Death, only to be saved when another dragon's fire hit it from behind.

Stoick's jaw dropped as the dragon fighting trainees, along with Lenora who had Aster seated behind her, came flying in on dragons. Even more shocking was that Lenora was giving orders like a proper general in a battle and they were all obeying her.

"Ruff, Tuff, watch your backs!" she ordered. "Move, Fishlegs!"

"Look at us, we're on dragons!" yelled Tuffnut. "All of us!"

"Everyone fly up, now!" yelled Lenora, as they turned and flew up.

As everyone else gazed at the incredible sight in shock, Gobber just smiled and shook his head. "That girl of yours is every bit the boar-headed, stubborn Viking you ever were!"

Stoick nodded, as he kept his gaze on his daughter. "Indeed she is," he said, proudly.

_You still came for me, Lenora, even after everything I did and our fight together. You truly are your mother's daughter. By Odin, I will make everything up to if we get out of this alive, so help me!_

**XXX**

Lenora heaved a sigh of relief as they flew around Red Death after Stoick was saved.

She was extremely glad they'd come when they had, as Stoick had almost been killed and the battle was proving to be a bad one, especially at the sight of the broken catapults and burning down ships. She had to do this right. Everything and everyone was depending on her.

"Fishlegs, break it down!" she said.

"Okay! Heavily armored skull and tail made for bashing and crushing," said Fishlegs, after he quickly assessed the situation. "Steer clear of both! Small eyes, large nostrils, it relies on hearing and smell!"

"Okay, Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spots, make noise, keep it confused!" said Lenora. "Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit, make it mad!"

"You got it, boss!" said Snotlout, as he and Fishlegs flew off.

"Making things mad is my specialty!" said Ruffnut.

"Since when? Everyone knows I'm more irritating. See?" said Tuffnut, as he did a stupid trick.

For once, the twins' fighting and petty insults was about to become useful.

"Just do what I told you!" yelled Lenora. "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Brightscales then dived and flew towards the ships.

While the others were fighting Red Death, Lenora and Aster were searching for Toothless and praying he was all right. Lenora needed Toothless and not just because he was her dragon, but because he was family to her. After several minutes of frantic searching, Lenora finally spotted him.

"There he is!" said Lenora, pointing her father's ship. "Okay, you're going to have to take control now. Once you do, go help the others."

"I will," said Aster. He got around her and then took the rope as Brightscales landed close enough for Lenora to get down without hurting herself and then he took off to help the others, who were in desperate need of his assistance.

Lenora leapt down and landed in front of Toothless, who made several happy and scared noises. He was glad to see her, but he was also scared for them both.

"I'm here, buddy. It's going to be okay," she said. "I'm going to get you out."

She managed to get off the harness on his mouth, but she was struggling to get his chains and the large wooden collar off him. She narrowly avoided being crushed by a burning down mast that fell right next to her. Red Death then placed her enormous foot on the ship, crushing it and sending them both down into the water.

_Toothless! _Quick as she could, Lenora swam through the water. She had to reach him. Dragons could stay underwater longer than humans, but they still needed to breathe after a certain period and a wet dragon head couldn't light its fire. If she didn't save Toothless, they were both going to drown, right then and there.

Lenora struggled to break the chains, but try as she might, she couldn't free him. After a few more moments, her lungs screamed from lack of oxygen and everything started to fade and go black. But then suddenly, she felt something grab her and the next thing she knew, she was on the surface, coughing up water and getting fresh air into her lungs.

She blinked open her eyes and gazed at her rescuer. "Dad?" she said, still slightly dazed.

But Stoick didn't reply as he dove back into the water, and a few moments later, Toothless shot out of the water, carrying Stoick in his paws before he placed the redheaded Viking on the ground, much to Lenora's joy and relief.

_They saved each other. Maybe now, things will be different_.

Toothless shook himself dry after landing on a large rock, and then beckoned for Lenora to get on him. She smiled as she rose up from where she'd be laying.

"You've got it, bud," she said, as she ran over to Toothless and then got onto his back and strapped herself in.

"Lenora, wait!" said Stoick, grabbing her hand. There was a new look on his face, one she hadn't seen in years—a mixture of pride, fear, joy and love. He looked like he was struggling to speak before he finally said, "I'm sorry…for everything. This is all my fault. I was so blind and such a fool. You were right. Forgive me. I'm so, so sorry."

"I'm sorry too," she said. She was sorry for so much. But a small smile crossed her lips. "But there's nothing to forgive." She wasn't upset with him anymore.He'd seen the error of his ways and he was still her father and she loved him, regardless.

"You don't have to go up there," said Stoick. He sounded like he was begging her to stay with him on the ground.

Lenora shook her head before smirking. "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard." She had to finish this battle, for the sake of her people and the dragons. She was a dragon rider.

Stoick tightly held her hand as tears came to his eyes. "Whatever happens out there, I want you to know that I am so, so darn proud and honored to call you my daughter. I love you so much, Nora."

Happy tears came to Lenora's eyes. He hadn't called her by her childhood nickname in so long. "Thanks, Daddy. I love you too." She reached over and they shared a brief hug before Stoick let her go and then as Toothless let out his own battle roar, they took off into the air.

Just like as they'd planned, the others flew away on their dragons when Lenora and Toothless came into view. Aster and Brightscales barely avoided being swallowed whole when Red Death started sucking them in, when Toothless did one of his famous never-misses attacks and blasted at Red Death's jaws, saving them both.

Aster fell off Brightscales, but he was saved when Toothless did a sharp dive and spin, and grabbed Aster by his foot.

"Did you get him?" asked Lenora, worried.

Toothless made his famous toothless smile as he moaned happily before dropping Aster safely on the ground and then they took off into the sky again.

Lenora gazed at Red Death, trying to figure out what to do, and then she had an idea. "That thing has wings. Okay, let's see if it can use them."

Toothless stopped his rise up and then went straight down before aiming a terrible blast at the joint were Red Death's wings were, causing the beast to fall down before it rose up, extending its wings, which were a thousand times the size of a Monstrous Nightmare's wings.

Lenora glanced back at Red Death, which had started to take off after them. "Well, she can fly. But we can do better."

Toothless grunted in agreement before they swiftly took off across the sea, and they flew like never before. They went over and around, left and right and through the rock formations as they curved around the island and everyone cheered them on.

Lenora looked up at the dark storm clouds. "All right, Toothless, it's time to disappear. Come on!" She pressed on the stirrup and Toothle ss flew straight up as Red Death followed them and they narrowly avoided by being blasted by Red Death's fire before they were able to hide themselves in the dark clouds and smoke.

Toothless wasn't called a Night Fury for nothing as his black scales were perfect for camouflage in the darkness and he could see everything perfectly while Red Death roared in frustration at being unable to find them. When they said a Night Fury never missed its target, they weren't joking. Lenora had Toothless fire at Red Death's wings, which were susceptible to fire attacks.

They curved around from their hiding place and dove down as Toothless attacked again. This went on until Red Death was so angry; it seemed to light the sky on fire. And despite their swiftness, Toothless' prosthetic tailfin was caught in the fire blast.

_Oh, crap. _Without the prosthetic, they wouldn't last much longer in the sky. "Okay, time's up. Let's see if this works," said Lenora, trying not to panic.

They did a backwards dive and flew straight for Red Death.

"Come on, is that the best you can do?" she yelled at Red Death, provoking it.

Red Death tried and failed to eat them twice as they flew around her face, and they all dove straight down. Red Death nearly caught them several times and the prosthetic was burning out quickly, which made the situation worse. She and Toothless were both scared, but they were trying to stay strong for each other. Lenora placed her hand on Toothless' face.

"Stay with me, buddy. We're good, just a little bit longer." They continued their descent. "Hold, Toothless. We're nearly there." She waited until she heard the telltale noise of Red Death about to light its fire. "Now!"

Toothless immediately rolled over and fire at Red Death's mouth, just as it was starting to light its fire. Lenora had seen from the Terrible Terror that dragons weren't fireproof on the inside, and since Toothless never missed, the attack worked perfectly. Red Death began burning up from the inside and then crashed in a fiery explosion which caused an enormous mushroom shaped cloud.

Lenora and Toothless flew upward as they tried to avoid the explosion, only for the prosthetic tailfin to burn off completely and then Lenora was knocked off of Toothless by Red Death's tail. All the smoke and the hit caused her to pass out, but not before she saw Toothless dive straight for her as she fell to the ground.

Then she knew no more.

**XXX**

Everyone screamed when Lenora and Toothless fell after Red Death's demise.

When the smoke and rubble settled, soon there was nothing but ash and soot flying everywhere and there was no more sounds of battle, only a terrible silence.

Stoick, scared and worried and unwilling to lose his daughter again, began searching and calling out for his little girl.

"Lenora?" shouted Stoick. "Lenora! Nora, where are you?"

The frantic father searched, but he saw no sign of his child. He stopped in tracks when he saw Toothless, lying on the ground.

"Nora," he whispered, as he frantically ran over to the dragon's side. _Please, please be there. Odin, please, don't let her be gone. _Toothless had to have her, he had to!

But when Stoick arrived, Stoick's hopes were dashed as he saw Toothless had no rider. His wings were curled around his large form, and it was then that Stoick saw the charred remains of the dragon's prosthetic tailfin and the dragon's flying system. It was Lenora's work.

_My little girl did this, _he realized. _Lenora did the impossible. _She had been clever enough to help the dragon fly again when no one else could've or would've. She'd become one with the dragon, helped it to fly, proved that there was more to dragons they had once thought and had brought peace to the two sides. And instead of enjoying praises for what she had done before now, she'd endured rejection and humiliation with astounding patience and compassion.

He'd disowned her, but she still found it in her heart to forgive him and save them all from Red Death. She was more than a blacksmith, cook, seamstress or a dragon rider, she was a heroine and she deserved to be honored for everything she'd done for her people and the dragons. He didn't deserve to have her as his daughter.

The dragons had been their enemies for years, and yet it was a dragon who had accepted Lenora when no one else had. The dragon had become Lenora's confidante, her faithful protector and her most loyal friend when her own father hadn't been. Gobber was right. His daughter had grown up, followed a path of her own choosing and depended on another that wasn't him. He didn't know anything about her and he had no one but himself to blame.

Realizing all the damage he'd done, and believing his child to be lost, Stoick fell to his knees. "Oh, Nora. I did this." He looked up at Toothless, who had woken up and was gazing at him with his green eyes. Everyone was upset at the apparent loss, including the dragons. Aster looked devastated at the loss of his lover. For the first time since his wife's death, Stoick wept and shed many a tear. "Oh, Nora, I'm so, so sorry. Forgive me. I just want my daughter back. I'm sorry."

Stoick's words had an effect as Toothless seemed to finally approve of Stoick and had accepted his apology to Lenora, as the dragon then unfolded his large, black wings, revealing Lenora, who was out cold, but safe in his arms.

"Lenora!" gasped Stoick, both shocked and relieved. He ran to his daughter and held her in his arms. He heaved a sigh of relief when he heard her heartbeat and felt her breathing. Stoick then began laughing and crying. "She's alive! You brought her back alive!"

This declaration brought about many cheers and tears of joy among the people of Berk. Aster was whooping in joy and the dragons were letting out happy roars.

Stoick gently placed his hand on Toothless' head as Toothless purred, marking a sign of mutual respect and acceptance between them. They were different and had much to do before they became close friends, but they both cared deeply for Lenora, and that was enough for now.

"Thank you for saving my daughter," said Stoick, gratefully.

Gobber came up beside them and shrugged. "Well, you know, most of her."

"Hush," said Stoick, shooting him a quick glare. He carried his daughter in his arms as Toothless rose up and walked beside him. Although there was peace, they still had some problems. "Now, how are we going to get home and once we do, where do we go from there with the dragons?"

Aster then stepped forward and held up Lenora's precious notebook, containing all her information on dragons. "Sir, if you're willing, I think the dragons should be able to get us back home and I believe with Lenora's notes to help us, we can work things out with the dragons."

Stoick nodded without hesitation. Lenora was the reason all of this was even possible. They would follow her directions, both written and spoken. "Let's get to it, then."


	9. Home at Last

Home at Last

One week later

Lenora eventually aroused from her slumber a week later.

Waking up was a week-long coma was different waking up from a good night's sleep. Her head felt fuzzy and her body felt quite strange as she slowly woke up when she felt Toothless' breath against her face and heard his soft croons. She opened her eyes just as Toothless started nuzzling her face.

"Hey, Toothless," she said, softly. She chuckled when he let out a very happy noise and began nudging her more, as if he was trying to get her out of bed before he licked her face as she weakly hugged him. "I'm happy to see you too, buddy."

In his excitement to see her awake, Toothless accidentally pressed on her ribs, which made her sit up in pain as she let out a yelp. She clutched her stomach and tried to breathe through the pain. She could tell that nothing was broken, probably just bruised and sore.

Toothless looked upset before she patted his face.

"I'm okay, Toothless, I promise," she assured him. "I'm just—wait." It was then that she noticed her surroundings and realized she was in her bed, which had been moved to the downstairs. "I'm in my house." How in the Nine Realms of Asgard had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was falling as Toothless tried to catch her. She glanced back at Toothless, who was shaking in excitement and licking his lips. "You're in my house. This is crazy. How long have I been out?"

Toothless pointed to the tallies on the wall, which she could tell had been made by him. There was one for each day. There were seven, much to her surprise.

"I've been out for a week?" she said, astonished. Heaven alone knew what had happened in the week she'd been out cold.

Toothless began climbing on everything and knocking things over in his excitement that she was awake at long last.

"Toothless, come on, no! Toothless, stop that! Does my dad know you're here?" she asked.

Toothless got down from the rafter he'd been climbing before he sat by her bed and then nodded.

_Dad knows Toothless is in the house? Okay, that does it. I need answers_. She removed her blanket as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and was not quite surprised when she saw that her left leg was missing and a prosthetic was nestled just below her knee. She sighed. _Well, I can't say I didn't expect some kind of casualty in the battle. _All things considered, it was a small price to pay.

She tried walking, but after a week of being unconscious, she was still a little weak and she wasn't used to her new leg. She nearly fell after the first two steps, but Toothless caught her with his head. He was protecting her, as always.

Toothless nudged her and then gave her a look that said, "_Are you okay?_"

Lenora smiled a little as she scratched his ears "It's all right, buddy. Don't worry. I'll get used to it. Besides, now we're even more alike than before."

Toothless purred in agreement as he allowed her to lean on him as they slowly walked towards the front door. Lenora took a deep breath as she braced herself for what was probably awaiting her outside. She was scared, but if she could do what she had for Toothless, win Aster's love and her father's approval, and vanquish Red Death, she could handle whatever else came her way, especially with her best friend by her side.

However, when she opened the door, she immediately shut it again when a Monstrous Nightmare flew by the house. "Toothless, stay here," she said.

She opened the door again, only to be shocked and confused to see that dragons of nearly every species were walking and flying all over Berk. Even more surprising to her was that other Vikings were riding some of them and instead of catapults; there were huge stone bowls of fish for the dragons to eat and even places for the dragons to nest. There was no way this was real, right?

"I knew it, I'm dead," she said, as she stepped out onto the porch.

Stoick laughed as he came up from behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "No, but you gave it your best shot. Aster showed us your notebook with all your notes and we were able to do all of this because of you. So what do you think?"

Lenora smiled. "I think this is amazing, Dad." It truly was amazing. Everything she had learned and shared with Toothless, everyone in Berk was finally obtaining for themselves. It was a complete and utter miracle.

Just then, she was spotted by the other villagers who cried out, "Hey, look, it's Lenora! Lenora's awake! She's okay!"

Everyone looked incredibly pleased to see her as they came up to her as she walked with her father, who was smiling at her with enormous pride and love.

"It turns out all we needed was a little more of this," said Stoick, as he gestured to her.

"You just gestured to all of me," said Lenora, chuckling. She'd found that annoying once before, but not now. Not anymore.

"Well, most of you," said Gobber, as he came up to them. He pointed to her prosthetic. "That bit is my handiwork, with a bit of Lenora-styled flair thrown it. You think it'll do?"

Lenora shrugged before she nodded. "I might make a few tweaks. Thanks, Gobber, for everything."

She was then pinched on the shoulder, making her wince.

"Ow. What—?" she turned to see Aster behind her, holding out her notebook.

"That was for scaring me," he said.

A sly grin crossed her face as she took her notebook back. "Then let me make amends." Not caring that everyone could see them, and only caring that the man she loved was still alive, Lenora reached out, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly, smiling inwardly when he dipped her and returned her kiss with an intense passion before they broke apart when everyone cheered them on.

Gobber then handed her a large bundle, which she could see contained a new flying system and red prosthetic tailfin for Toothless.

"I made this based on your blueprints and I added a few modifications for your new leg," said Gobber, smiling. "Welcome home, Lenora."

Lenora smiled again and then burst out laughing when someone yelled, "Night Fury! Get down!" and then Toothless leapt onto several people as he knocked them down and bounded towards Lenora, as happy as a playful puppy as he eagerly wagged his tail.

"One minute, Toothless," she said. She turned to Aster. "So, are you up for a flight around Berk?"

"I'd love to, but it might have to wait because someone wants to talk to you," said Aster, pointing to Stoick, who placed his hand on Lenora's shoulder.

"Indeed I do," said Stoick. He looked at Lenora. "I'd like to talk for a moment, if you would be willing to listen to me, that is."

Lenora nodded. How could she refuse him? "Sure, Dad," she said.

They went into the house and then Lenora started to attach on Toothless' new flying system and prosthetic tailfin. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Stoick took a deep breath and said, "Lenora, I want to apologize. I have a lot to make up for and I hope that I can."

Lenora, who'd just finished what she was doing, turned around to face him. He didn't need to apologize. He'd already done that. Things were okay between them now. She didn't need to hear more. "Dad, it's okay. You don't need to—"

"Yes, I do," he interrupted. "You've forgiven me, but I need time to be able to forgive myself. I may be your hero, but I wasn't there for you when it mattered most. You shouldn't have had to try so hard to be something you're not, just to make me happy. It shouldn't have taken me almost losing you to see just how blind I was. Even after everything I'd done, you still came out for me. Thank you."

"Dad, listen to me," said Lenora, softly. She knew he needed to get this out, but perhaps she could help. She placed her hand on his cheek. "Things weren't always easy, I'll admit. But there's nothing that could ever make me stop caring about you. You're my hero and more importantly, you're my dad and that's all that really matters."

Stoick smiled as he covered her hand with his. "You are the cleverest, craziest, stubbornness, and most caring and bravest girl I've ever known. And you know what, your mother was right about you. You are the light of this village and without you, none of this would be possible because you saw what we didn't and your mother did. Toothless is an amazing creature—loyal and faithful to no end—and I can't begin to express how glad I am that you found him that day in the woods."

Toothless purred in agreement as Lenora smiled.

"Nora, what I'm trying to say is that I'm proud of you, of the woman that you've become and the dragon rider that you are." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You and Gobber were right. I don't know you, but I want to know you, very badly. I know that we still have much to discuss and you've got plenty to show me and tell me, both about the dragons, your work and everything else, so when you get back from your date, I'll be here waiting for you and then you can show me everything."

Lenora's face lit with hope. "And then we'll talk and you'll listen to me?"

"Whenever you want to and however long you want to. We'll talk and listen to each other until we're both blue in the face and deaf as a fish," he promised. "This village has so much to learn from you if you'd be willing to teach it. You're going to be an amazing Chieftess one day, I know it."

Lenora was crying and laughing as she then tightly hugged him and silently rejoiced when she felt him return the embrace. "I love you so much, Daddy."

"I love you too, Nora," said Stoick, as he stroked her hair.

It had taken many years, but father and daughter had become one at long last. For the first time in Lenora's life, she felt like she truly belonged in Berk with her loved ones and her people. For the first time in her life, she was truly happy and she didn't have to hide who she was anymore.

A little more talk gave her the new position of Dragon Instructor and Trainer, and then Toothless began let out impatient noises and gently tugging on Lenora's sleeve and towards the now-opened door to outside where Aster and Brightscales were waiting.

Stoick laughed before kissing Lenora's head. "Go. I'll be here when you get back."

Lenora smiled again before she headed out. She got onto Toothless' back and prepared to race Aster, who was waiting for her on the back of his dragon.

"Ready to lose?" said Aster, grinning.

Lenora laughed. "We'll see about that." She turned to Toothless. "You ready, bud?"

Toothless nodded and made a happy noise.

"All right then. Let's show the rookies how it's done," she joked, before she let her hair out of its braid and then they took off at amazing speeds.

Aster and Lenora flew all around the village in a series of impressive aerodynamics as Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Snotlout soon joined them on their own dragons in their incredible flight to the skies, not really caring where they were going as they flew wherever the wind took them as they let out enormous whoops of joy.

_I'm home, _Lenora realized, as she smiled. _I'm finally home where I belong._

The village of Berk.

In Berk, it snowed nine months of the year and hailed the other three. Any food grown there was tough and tasteless. The people grown there were even more so. The only upside was the pets. Most places had ponies or parrots. Berk had dragons.

_The End_


End file.
